A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c8.96

c8.96

Dr. Weber, in his dissertation on the Upanishads, thinks it is not impossible that Kapila, the founder of the Sânkhya, and Buddha were in fact one and the same person. (Indische Studien, i. 436.) He afterwards qualifies this conjecture, and calls it not very probable. It is true that the Indians themselves observed a certain similarity between the doctrines of Kapila and Buddha. But this would rather show that the two were different persons. Nor would the legend that Buddha was born at Kapila-vastu, the town of Kapila, or rather of the Kâpilas, seem to prove the identity of Kapila and Buddha. By another conjecture, the same ingenious scholar makes the founder of the Sânkhya (Panchaśikha Kâpileya) the same person with Kâpya Pâtanchala, who occurs in the Śatapatha-brâhmaṇa; while, in a former article (i. 84.), both Kapila and Patanchali together, the former as the founder of the Sânkhya, the latter as the author of the Yoga system, are merged into Kâpya Pâtanchala. Afterwards, however, this opinion also is retracted, because Dr. Weber thinks that the Yoga system might be a later development of the Sânkhya.