Kapileshwar Temple Tarabai Rd,Shivaji Peth A Ward,C Ward,Kolhapur,Maharashtra

This is the Gramdaivat i.e. the god of the city of kolhapur. This temple has history of hundreads of years. Very few people know the village deity of Kolhapur. Generally people consider Karveer resident Mahalakshmi as the village deity but the village deity of Kolhapur is not Mahalakshmi but Lord Kapileshwar. Maharishi Kapil, whose penance this Kapileshwar linga was established in memory of, is the son of Kardam and Anubhuti, brother of Mata Anusaya, maternal uncle of Dattaguru, and the fifth of the 24 incarnations of Narayana.
This Kapil Muni took Guruship from his mother and gave her the initiation of his Siddhanta. Every mother is the teacher of the children but the mother took the discipleship of the children only in Kolhapur.
The theory presented by this Maharishi Kapila is Samkhya philosophy. It is created by the nature of the universe and Purusha. This theory that presents the philosophy that it is realized by the 25 principles of soul, mind, intellect, mind, ego, 5 senses, 5 karma, 5 mahabhute, 5 tanmatra . It is because of this long contemplation that Kapil Muni got the name Siddha. Siddhanam Kapilo Muni is also mentioned in Srimad Bhagavad Gita. So Siddha Sankhyeshwar is the Mahalinga that preserves the memory of Samkhya philosophy of Siddha Kapil Muni! Even today, this linga is enshrined in a beautiful temple at the Shankaracharya Math on the banks of the Hiranyakeshi River in Sankeshwar, 42 km southwest of Kolhapur. People here know it as Shankarlinga. Every year on Rathasaptami, the Rathotsav of Shankarlinga is completed with a grand wooden chariot.