symbol that, like Shiva, they have
transcended all earthly concerns of
purity, impurity (ashaucha), and
conventional standards of what is and is
not appropriate.
Kapha
(“phlegm”) Along with vata(“air”) and
pitta(“bile”), one of the three bodily
humours (tridosha) in ayurveda, the
traditional system of Indian medicine.
Every person has all three of these
humours, but usually one is dominant;
this marks a person in certain ways, par-
ticularly with regard to health, digestion,
and metabolism. Kapha is associated
with the elementsof earthand water,
since phlegm has both liquid and solid
characteristics. It provides solidity and
fluidity. Those who exhibit this humor
are said to be strong, healthy, and have
great stamina. At the same time, this
solidity can take the form of inertia and
fatigue; “phlegmatic” people must do
their best avoid these tendencies.
Kapila
A powerful and ornery sage in Hindu
mythology. Kapila’s most famous mythic
exploit occurs in the story of the
Descent of the Ganges. King Sagaris on
the verge of completing his hundredth
horse sacrifice (ashvamedha). This will
give him enough religious merit to claim
the throne of Indra, king of the gods.
Indra forestalls this threat by stealing the
sacrificial horse and tying it outside
Kapila’s ashram. Sagar dispatches his
sixty-thousand sons to find the horse.
When they finally locate it at Kapila’s
ashram, they find the sage deep in med-
itation. The sons assume that the sage’s
meditation is a ploy to keep from having
to answer their questions, so they begin
to abuse him physically. Kapila becomes
extremely angry. The accumulated
power generated by his long asceticism
(tapas) is released like fire, burning the
sixty-thousand sons to ash. Kapila later
informs Sagar’s sole surviving descen-
dant, Anshuman, that the only way to
bring peace to the souls of the departed
is to bring the Ganges down to earth
and have their ashes touched by her
waters. Fulfilling this condition galva-
nizes several generations of Sagar’s
descendants—Anshuman, Dilip, and
Bhagirath—until the last is finally suc-
cessful in bringing the river to earth.Kapila
(2) Philosopher cited as the traditional
founder of the Samkhyaphilosophical
school, one of the six schoolsof Hindu
philosophy. Little is known about him;
much of what is known has a legendary
tone that makes its value as historical
data questionable. Kapila may have
lived in the seventh century B.C.E.If
this is true, Kapila would have lived
about a thousand years earlier than
Ishvarakrishna. The latter is the first
Samkhya figure from whom we have a
well-attested text, the Samkhyakarikas,
which is the foundational text for
the school.Kapilavastu
Ancient city in southern Nepal, just over
the Indian border from the state of
Bihar. Buddhist sources identify it as the
capital city of Buddha’s father, King
Suddhodhana of the Shakya tribe.
Kapilavastu was part of the thriving
urban network in that region of India
during the fifth century B.C.E.Kapu
Traditional Indian society was modeled
as a collection of endogamous, or inter-
married, subgroups known as jatis
(“birth”). These jatis were organized
(and their social status determined) by
the group’s hereditary occupation, over
which each group held a monopoly. In
traditional society, the Kapus were farm-
ers. In much of modern Andhra
Pradesh, particularly the region border-
ing modern Tamil Nadu, the Kapus are
the dominant landholding group.Kapha