The Principal Upanishads · Chapter 3

Katha Upanishad — Valli I (excerpts)

कठोपनिषद् — प्रथमा वल्ली

The dialogue of Nachiketas and Yama (opening section only)

Translated by Sri Aurobindo (1914, public domain)

Placeholder chapter. Only the first six mantras of Valli I are included. The full Katha Upanishad spans 6 vallis (chapters) with 119 mantras across two adhyayas. Remaining content will be added in a future update — we publish what we are confident is faithful, rather than fabricate.

VERSE 1

ॐ उशन् ह वै वाजश्रवसः सर्ववेदसं ददौ। तस्य ह नचिकेता नाम पुत्र आस॥

om uśan ha vai vājaśravasaḥ sarvavedasaṁ dadau । tasya ha naciketā nāma putra āsa ॥

Vajasravasa, desiring (a divine reward), made a sacrifice in which he gave away all that he had. Now he had a son named Nachiketas.

VERSE 2

तꣳ ह कुमारꣳ सन्तं दक्षिणासु नीयमानासु श्रद्धाऽऽविवेश सोऽमन्यत॥

taṁ ha kumāraṁ santaṁ dakṣiṇāsu nīyamānāsu śraddhāviveśa so 'manyata ॥

As the gifts were led past, faith took possession of him who was yet a boy unwed and he pondered.

VERSE 3

पीतोदका जग्धतृणा दुग्धदोहा निरिन्द्रियाः। अनन्दा नाम ते लोकास्तान् स गच्छति ता ददत्॥

pītodakā jagdhatṛṇā dugdhadohā nirindriyāḥ । anandā nāma te lokās tān sa gacchati tā dadat ॥

'Cattle that have drunk their water, eaten their grass, yielded their milk, worn out their organs, of undelight are the worlds which he reaches who gives such as these.'

VERSE 4

स होवाच पितरं तत कस्मै मां दास्यसीति। द्वितीयं तृतीयं तꣳ होवाच मृत्यवे त्वा ददामीति॥

sa hovāca pitaraṁ tata kasmai māṁ dāsyasīti । dvitīyaṁ tṛtīyaṁ taṁ hovāca mṛtyave tvā dadāmīti ॥

He said to his father, 'Me, O my father, to whom wilt thou give?' A second time and a third he said it, and the father said in anger, 'I give thee unto Death.'

VERSE 5

बहूनामेमि प्रथमो बहूनामेमि मध्यमः। किꣳ स्विद्यमस्य कर्तव्यं यन्मयाऽद्य करिष्यति॥

bahūnām emi prathamo bahūnām emi madhyamaḥ । kiṁsvid yamasya kartavyaṁ yan mayādya kariṣyati ॥

'Of many I go the first, of many I go the middlemost; what then is it that Yama must do unto me which today by me he must accomplish?'

VERSE 6

अनुपश्य यथा पूर्वे प्रतिपश्य तथाऽपरे। सस्यमिव मर्त्यः पच्यते सस्यमिवाजायते पुनः॥

anupaśya yathā pūrve pratipaśya tathāpare । sasyam iva martyaḥ pacyate sasyam ivājāyate punaḥ ॥

'Look back and see, even as were the men of old; look round! — even so are they that have come after. Mortal man withers like the fruits of the field and like the fruits of the field he is born again.'