Many historic personalities in Hinduism and Jainism, mythical figures, pilgrimage sites in Indian religion, as well as an ancient variety of cow went by the name Kapila.

Kapila is credited with authoring an influential sutra, called Samkhya-sutra(also called Kapila-sutra),which aphoristically presents the dualistic philosophy of Samkhya.These sutras were explained in another well studied text of Hinduism called the Samkhyakarika. Beyond the Samkhya theories,he appears in many dialogues of Hindu texts, such as in explaining and defending the principle of Ahimsa (non-violence) in the Mahabharata.