1. About the Author Kāśyapa (Introduction)

The present thesis is a study on the Kāśyapa Śilpaśāstra ascribed to sage Kāśyapa. Vāstuśāstra has the uniqueness of having been transmitted by all the three of the supreme gods, namely Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva. The Dakṣiṇāmūrti aspect of Śiva, however, is always invoked by students of Arts and Science. In the majority of the Vāstuśāstra texts, Śiva is the source from whom Vāstuvidyā, the science of architecture is revealed.

Kāśyapa Śilpaśāstra also states in its very first chapter that, sage Kāśyapa requests Lord Śiva to give a summary of the tantra by name Aṃśumat that he had previously revealed to the eligible Devas, Rudras, etc.

He requests the Lord to reveal that science to him briefly, for the benefit of the mortals (humans) on earth (Kāśyapa Śilpaśāstra, I. 5-6):

aṃśumantamahātaṃtrāttvayoktaṃ hi purārthakam |
tantraṃ tava ca devānāṃ yantrāṇāmadhikāriṇām ||^[1]
alpāyuṣyādidharmāṇāṃ narāṇāṃ tvadhikāriṇām |
anugrahārthaṃ tveteṣāṃ saṃkṣepādvada me prabho ||

Kāśyapa is a name that often appears in Sanskrit literature. The name Kāśyapa first appears in the Vedic and Brahmanical texts. Kāśyapa is mentioned as Kaśyapa in the Ṛgveda (IX. 114. 2)^[2] only once, but is a common figure in later Saṃhitās^[3]. The word kaśyapa occurs in its normal meaning of a “tortoise” in the Atharvaveda (IV. 20. 7)^[4] and then in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa^[5] where the tortoise is identified as a form of Prajāpati: “therefore all creatures are said to be descended from Kāśyapa.”

(i). Genealogy

The Mahābhārata (I. 65), traces the origin of sage Kāśyapa to Lord Brahmā. It says that the six mānasa putras of Brahmā are: Marīci, Aṅgiras, Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha and Kratu; Kaśyapa is said to be the son of Marīci and the grandson of Brahmā.

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (CIV. 3-4) says that Brahmā had a son, who was Marīci, his son was Kaśyapa or Kāśyapa. Dakṣa's thirteen daughters^[6] were his wives and that they had many children who were the Devas, Daityas, Nāgas and the rest:

brahmaṇastanayo yo'bhūnmarīciriti viśrutaḥ |
kaśyapastasya putro'bhūt kāśyapo nāma nāmataḥ ||
dakṣasya tanayā vrahman tasya bhāryāstrayodaśa |
bahavastatsutāścāsan deva-daityoragādayaḥ ||

Sage Kaśyapa is said to have had 21 wives who were: Aditi, Diti, Danu, Ariṣṭā, Surasā, Khaśā, Surabhi, Vinatā, Tāmra, Krodhavaśā, Irā, Kadrū, Muni, Pulomā, Kālakā, Natā, Danāyus, Siṃhikā, Pradhā, Viśvā and Kapilā. The Purāṇas proclaim that all living beings that we see in the world today, sprang from Kaśyapa's offsprings by his different wives^[7].

The serpents (Nāgas) were born to Kadrū, one of the wives of Kaśyapa. Once Kadrū asked her children to hang down like hair from the tail of Uccaiśśravas, the horse. Since they refused, she cursed them that they would be burnt alive at Janamejaya's Sarpa Sattra. After this curse, the Nāgas became dangerously venomous. So, Brahmā taught Kaśyapa the art of curing snake-poison to protect other creatures that might be bitten by the Nāgas. Therefore, the cure for snake-bite in this world dates back to that time^[8].

There is a story of this Kaśyapa being reborn as Vasudeva, Aditi as Devakī and Surasā as Rohiṇī, due to the curse of Brahmā and Varuṇa for stealing and hiding the divine cow. Kaśyapa was cursed to be born as a cowherd and his wives who aided him in the theft were born as cowherd's wives^[9].

Further, there is a mention of Kaśyapa who was the friend of the Pāṇḍavas^[10]; Kaṇva, the foster father of Śakuntalā was known as Kāśyapa as he was born in the family of sage Kāśyapa^[11].

(ii). Kāśyapa and Architecture

The name Kāśyapa as the sage and a knower of architecture and art is frequently encountered in the iconographical texts. Bhaṭṭotpala, the commentator of the Bṛhat Saṃhitā who lived in the 10^th Cent. A.D., quotes extensively from a certain Kāśyapa. As Bṛhat Saṃhitā is an early text compared to the present text under study, i.e., the Kāśyapaśilpa, there is a view that perhaps he might be an author of a prototype of it^[12].

The Viśvakarma Vāstuśāstra, the architectural text belonging to the northern school of architecture enlists Kāśyapa amongst fourteen other ācāryas who were authorities in this field–Agastya, Nandi, Nārada, Bṛhaspati, Timyaloka, Kāśyapa, Loka Darśaka, Kātyāyana, Marīci, Pālakāpya, Puṇḍarīka. Dīrghadarśi, Punarvasu and Yogasāra (VVS., XVIII. 1-3):

agastyo bhagavānnanadī nāradaśca mahāmuniḥ |
bṛhaspatistimyalokaḥ kāśyapo lokadarśakaḥ ||
kātyayano mahātejā marīciścitratoyakaḥ |
pālakāpyaḥ puṇḍarīko dīrghadarśī punarvasuḥ ||
yogasāro mahātejā ye cānye munipuṅgavāḥ |
tairatīndriyavijñānanidhibhirdharmarakṣakaiḥ ||

The Atri Saṃhitā (VII. 13) and the Śilparatna also acknowledge Kāśyapa as an authority in the field of architecture. The references to Kāśyapa in various Śilpa texts help us to trace his period.

(iii). Kāśyapa's works

Apart from the Kāśyapa Śilpaśāstra, there are numerous other works ascribed to Kāśyapa, the most famous being the Kāśyapajñānakāṇḍa^[13] of the Vaikhānasa school. In addition, Kāśyapa is known as an ancient authority on medicine, law and even music and several works having “Kāśyapa” included in their name, are preserved in manuscript form. The New Catalogus Catalogorum (NCC, Vol. IV) ascribes more than ten texts to Kāśyapa like Kāśyapīya-roganidhānam (a treatise on medicine), Kāśyapa Saṃhitā (Āyurveda -treatment for snake poision) and Kāśyapa Dharmasūtra.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Aṃśumatkāśyapāgama, Muktabodha Indological Research Institute, 2011, 1. 6Ácd. For easy recognition, the chapter numbers cited from this edition shall be indicated with Arabic numbers; the Maharishi edition will be marked with Roman numbers.

[2]:

ṛṣeḥ mantrakṛtāṃ stomaiḥ kaśyapodvardhayaṃgiraḥ |
somaṃ namasya rājānaṃ yo jajñe vīrudhāṃ patirindrāyondo pari srava ||

[3]:

Sāmaveda, I. 1. 2. 4, 10; 4. 2. 3. 2; Atharvaveda, I. 14. 4; II. 33. 7; IV. 20. 7, 29.3, 37.1; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, IV. 2. 9; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, III. 62.

[4]:

kaśyapasya cakṣurasi śunyāśca caturakṣyāḥ |
vīdhre sūryamiva sarpantaṃ mā piśācaṃ tiraskaraḥ ||

[5]:

VII. 5. 1. 5: ... kaśyapasya ca prajāpatitvena prajākārakattvāt, ‘kaśyapaḥ kūrmaḥ khalu’; ata eva ‘sarvāḥ prajāḥ kāśyapyaḥ’ iti ‘āhuḥ’ janāḥ |

[6]:

They are: Aditi. Diti, Kālakā, Danāyus, Danu, Siṃhikā, Krodhā, Pradhā, Viśvā, Vinatā, Kapilā, Muni and Kadrū.

[7]:

VR, I. 29; Viṣṇu Purāṇa, I. 15-21; Mahābhārata, I. 16, 65 and Agni Purāṇa, XVIII.

[8]:

M.Bhā., I. 20.

[9]:

Devī Bhāgavata, 4th Skandha.

[10]:

M.Bhā., III. 114.

[11]:

Cf. Puranic Encyclopaedia, Vettam Mani, p. 385.

[12]:

The Hindu Temple by Stella Kramrisch, p. 425, 15fn.; The Canons of Indian Art or A Study on Vāstuvidyā by T. Bhattacharya, pp. 99-100.

[13]:

T. Goudriaan the translator of this text notes that, “two other volumes, called Satyakāṇḍa and Tarkakāṇḍa, which are not available anymore.” R. Parthasarathi Bhattachar, p. 1, adds: “together these works formed the Kāśyapa Saṃhitā (a name which is in vogue also for the Jñānakāṇḍa only).”