Upanishads · Kaṭha 1.23
॥
Devanāgarī
शतायुषः पुत्रपौत्रान् वृणीष्व बहून् पशून् हस्तिहिरण्यम् अश्वान् ।
भूमेर् महद् आयतनं वृणीष्व स्वयं च जीव शरदो यावद् इच्छसि
Transliteration (IAST)
śatāyuṣaḥ putrapautrān vṛṇīṣva bahūn paśūn hastihiraṇyam aśvān /
bhūmer mahad āyatanaṃ vṛṇīṣva svayaṃ ca jīva śarado yāvad icchasi
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शतायुषःśatāyuṣaḥliving a hundred years (śata-āyus — 'of a hundred years' span'); who live a hundred years; long-lived
पुत्रपौत्रान्putrapautrānsons and grandsons; offspring
वृणीष्वvṛṇīṣvachoose; ask
बहून्bahūnmany; abundant
पशून्paśūncattle; herds
हस्तिhastielephants; the strength of elephants
हिरण्यम्hiraṇyamgold; wealth
अश्वान्aśvānhorses; steeds
भूमेःbhūmeḥof land; of earthly domain
महत्mahatthe great; vast
आयतनम्āyatanamcontrol; a domain, an estate; expanse
वृणीष्वvṛṇīṣvachoose; ask
स्वयम्svayamHimself; you yourself
चcaand; also
जीवjīvalive; live out
शरदःśaradaḥautumns; years
यावत्yāvathow many; as many as
इच्छसिicchasiyou wish; you want
Translation
"Choose sons and grandsons who shall live a hundred years, many cattle, elephants, gold, horses. Choose vast domains of earth — and live yourself as many autumns as you wish."
Version
0e304078c5e7 · published Jul 26, 2026, 9:13:03 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The testing goes over to the attack: Death opens the bargaining. The price-list is calibrated to the human heart from the top down: sons and grandsons for a hundred years (immortality in one's offspring is the first comfort of a mortal), herds and elephants (wealth), gold and horses (luxury and power), mahad āyatanam bhūmeḥ — "a great domain of earth" (dominion), and finally jīva śarado yāvad icchasi — "live as many autumns as you wish" — long life itself.
Every item on this list is an honest substitute for the question of immortality, of the kind mankind offers itself: to continue in one's children, to surround oneself with possessions, to widen one's holdings, to postpone the term. Yama enumerates not temptations but strategies of forgetting; all of it is a way of not asking what Naciketas has asked.
And a fine point: it is Death who offers this — she who with her own hand will cut short both the grandsons' centuries and the "as many as you wish" autumns. Mortal gifts from a mortals' lord are returnable by their nature; the seal of the end of all these gifts is in the giver himself. Naciketas will see this at once (verse 26): "all this lasts but till the morrow, and you will take it all."