According to mythological beliefs, Maharishi Kashyap is considered to be the original creator of the entire universe. This is why Kashyap is not only a great man but also the name of a wide clan. Tradition says that the Gotra of a person whose Gotra is not known is considered to be Kashyap, because the entire living world is believed to have originated from Rishi Kashyap.
A famous story related to sage Kashyap is related to Parashurama. It is said that Lord Parshuram freed the earth from Kshatriyas and donated the entire earth to his Guru Kashyap Muni. After accepting the donation, Kashyap Muni said to Parashurama – “Now you do not live on the land given by me.” Following the orders of the Guru, Parashurama took a pledge that he would not stay on earth at night. Every day in the evening, he used to go to Mahendra Mountain with his fast moving power and returned again in the morning.
Maharishi Kashyap’s glory is described as like molten gold. His locks were burning like flames of fire. He was the best among the sages and a staunch follower of morality and religion. His ashram was situated on the peak of Mount Meru, where he remained absorbed in the meditation of Brahma-tattva. Kashyap Muni is mentioned in many Puranas as the original man of both Suras and Asuras.
According to Shri Narasimha Purana, the universe expanded from the Manas sons born from the wives of sage Kashyap. For this reason he was called ‘Creator of Creation’. The Puranas mention a total of his seventeen wives, thirteen of whom were daughters of Daksh Prajapati. These wives gave birth to different children according to their respective nature and qualities.
Twelve Adityas were born from the sage’s wife Aditi, which also includes the Vaman incarnation of Lord Vishnu. This incarnation is considered to be the first incarnation of Vishnu in human form, which was called Upendra in South India. Hiranyakashyap, Hiranyaksha and Simhika were also born from Aditi. Hiranyakashyap was killed by Lord Narasimha and Hiranyaksha was killed by Varaha Avatar.
Demons were born from Danu, Gandharva from Arishta, cow dynasty from Surbhi and Garuda and Arun were born from Vinata. Garuda became the vehicle of Vishnu and Arun became the charioteer of Sun God. The origin of violent creatures was believed to be from anger and the serpent dynasty was believed to be from Kadru. Because of these snakes, Kashmir has been called the ‘land of snakes’ in the Puranas.
