Part 1 Kasyapa is one of the Saptarishis in the ‘present Manvantara’. The saint Kasyapa was born to great Rishi Marichi and his wife Kala. According to our shastras, Saint Kashyap played an important role in the development of this human world. He is also known as Arishtanemi. His mother Kala who was the daughter of Saint Kardam who is also happens to be the sister of Kapil Deva. Kasyapa was also the author of the treatise Kashyapa Samhita, or Jivakiya Tantra or Braddha Jivakiya Tantra, which is considered a classical reference book on Ayurveda especially in the fields of Ayurvedic pediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics. According to Puranas, Saint Kashyap’s asylum was situated at the top of Meru hill, where he resided and offered austerities to Lord Brahma. Saint Kashyap was respected by all Devas, Demons and humans as he is the technically father of all these species. In fact prior to him also there were human beings but they carry all the qualities of different species like devas, nagas, yakshas, gandharava like so on. But this was bifurcated during the time Rishi Kasyapa. It is believed that he is the forefather of all jaties on earth. He wrote various religious and mythological texts. For example, Garuda and Aruna are the sons of Kashapa from his wife Vinata. The Nāgas (serpents) are his sons from Kadru. The Danavas are his sons from Danu. According to Puranas, Daksha Prajapati was born from Lord Brahma and married Aksini (prasooti) who gave him 66 daughters. Thirteen of these daughters were married to Saint Kashyap and played an important role in the development of the world. Saint Kashyap’s wives were Aditi, Diti , Kadru ,Danu ,Arishta, Sursa, Surbhi, Ida, Muni, Krodhvasha, Tamra, , Vinata, and Vishva. He also married to Patangi, Yamini, Kashta, Timi. Saint Kashyap is one of the Saptrishi now the others are Vashishta, Atri, Gautama, Vishwamitra, Bhardwaj and Jamadagni. When King Karthvirya killed Maharshi Jamadagni, his son Parshuram won every battle and killed all Kshatriyas on the earth. He then organized an Ashwamedha Yagya in which he donated the whole Earth to Saint Kashyap. Out of the fear of losing all Kshatriyas, Saint Kashyap asks Parshuram to travel to the Mahendra Mountain facing the Southern ocean. Parshuram does the same and swears that he would not stay on the earth in the nights. The earth is also named after him because donated all the land to this muni thus this mother earth became kashyapi since then. Saint Kashyap and one his wife Aditi, gave birth to Agni, the Adityas, and most importantly Lord Vishnu took his fifth avtaras Vamana. With his second wife, Diti, he begot the Daityas. Diti and Aditi were daughters of King Daksha Prajapati and sisters to Sati, Shiva's consort. Kashyap received the earth, obtained by Parashurama's conquest of King Kartavirya Arjuna and hence forth, earth came to be known as "Kashyapi". Birth and Lineage of Kashyapa He is the son of Marichi, one of the ten sons (Maanasa-putras) of the Creator Brahma. The vally of Kashmir was also named after this great sage. Prior to his period the Vally was under the cover of water this great sage dried all the water with his taposhakti and created a beautiful valley. There were references about this in the book “Rajatarangini” written by Kalhana.
