Kāśyapa of Brahmāvarta
Kāśyapa · kāśyapa, “the one of the line of Kaśyapa”
Kāśyapa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kāśyapa.
Kāśyapa of Brahmāvarta is the brāhmaṇa who came from svargaloka to Brahmāvarta when a thousand years of Kaliyuga had passed. He is not Kaśyapa Prajāpati. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells that he knew all the Vedas and was endowed with all knowledge, that his wife was Āryāvatī, and that their ten sons, Upādhyāya and the rest, had qualities that matched their names. He stayed among his sons giving them jñāna, kept the life of a muni, praised Devī Sarasvatī in Kāśmīra and received her grace, drew the mlecchas of Mina and Misra under his teaching, and taught the sanātana Manu-dharma to his sons and his disciples. He ruled for 120 years. The account answers Śaunaka‘s question: why could the mlecchas not enter Brahmāvarta? Sūta replies that it was by the power of Sarasvatī.
His coming to Brahmāvarta
Sūta tells Śaunaka that when a thousand years of Kali had passed, Kāśyapa came from svargaloka to Brahmāvarta by command of the devas. In the telling of Khaṇḍa 4, Sūta says that Devarāṭ Mahendra sent the brāhmaṇa to excellent Brahmāvarta, and that Āryāvatī, a deva-śakti, joyfully took his hand in marriage.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 6; Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 3
His ten sons
From his dharma-patnī Āryāvatī, Kāśyapa had ten sons:
- Upādhyāya
- Dīkshita
- Pāṭhaka
- Śukla
- Miśra
- Agnihotrī
- Dvivedī
- Trivedī
- Pāṇḍya
- Caturvedī
Their qualities matched their names. Khaṇḍa 4 writes the ninth as Pāṇḍā.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 6; Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 3
His stuti to Sarasvatī
Kāśyapa went to Kāśmīra and satisfied Sarasvatī, mother of the world, with red flowers, akshata, dhūpa, dīpa, naivedya and pushpāñjali (an offering of flowers in joined hands). Then he praised her:
- “Mātaḥ! Śaṅkarapriyā, beloved of Śaṅkara, why does your karuṇā (compassion) not come upon me?”
- “Devī, you are the mother of the whole world. Then why do you hold me as outside the world?”
- “Devī, why do you not slay the enemies of dharma for the sake of the devas?”
- “Bewilder the mlecchas and spread the excellent Saṃskṛta language.”
- “Ambā, you bear many forms, you are of the nature of huṃkāra, you slew Dhūmralocana.”
- “In the form of Durgā you slew terrible daityas and gave happiness to the world.”
- “Mātā, destroy pride, delusion and terrible arrogance, and grant happiness. Destroy the wicked and give jñāna to the world.”
Pleased by this stuti, Devī Sarasvatī dwelt in the mind of Kāśyapa Muni and gave him jñāna.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 6
Kāśyapa and the mlecchas
The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells that the muni then went to the land of Mina, bewildered the mlecchas there and made them dvijanmas (the twice-born). By Sarasvatī’s anugraha (grace), Kāśyapa, the best of munis, always keeping the life of a muni, lived in the Ārya land together with those people, and by the vara of Devī Sarasvatī those Āryas increased greatly.
Khaṇḍa 4 tells that Kāśyapa came to the land of Misra, brought under control ten thousand mlecchas born there, came back to his own place and made them his disciples. After the destruction of the Sapta-purīs they lived in excellent Brahmāvarta, between the rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛshadvatī.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 6; Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 3
His rule and his line
Kāśyapa Muni’s period of rule lasted 120 years. In the land of Magadha, Māgadha, the son of Kāśyapa, took from his father the burden of the kingdom of villages. Later the same chapter tells that a famous devatā named Gautama was born from Kāśyapa.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 6
The teaching of Manu-dharma
King Kāśyapa, a follower of Manu-dharma, called his son Śukla, a tapasvī and best of dvijas, taught him Manu-dharma and ordered him to do tapas on the Raivata peak. He also taught sanātana Manu-dharma to his nine other sons and his disciples.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 3
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 6; Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 3