Held in the Puranas as father to gods, demons, and much of creation itself — one of the Saptarishi and a name behind Kashmir's own.
सप्तर्षि · Saptarishi
The Puranas describe Kashyapa as a prolific progenitor, married to thirteen daughters of Daksha, whose children are said to include the Devas, Asuras, Nagas, and Garuda — casting him less as a single ancestor and more as a personification of creation's diversity.
Kashmir's name is traditionally traced to him, 'Kashyapa-mira' (Kashyapa's lake), reflecting a local legend that he drained a great lake to form the valley. He is invoked in many Vedic genealogies as a root figure connecting otherwise separate divine and demonic lineages.