Upanishads · Kauṣītaki 4.13
॥
Devanāgarī
स होवाच बालाकिर्य एवैष च्छायापुरुषस्तमेवाहमुपास इति तं होवाचाजातशत्रुर्मा मैतस्मिन्समवादयिष्ठा मृत्युरिति वा अहमेतमुपास इति स यो हैतमेवमुपास्ते नो एव स्वयं नास्य प्रजा पुरा कालात्प्रमीयते
Transliteration (IAST)
sa hovāca bālākirya evaiṣa cchāyāpuruṣastamevāhamupāsa iti taṃ hovācājātaśatrurmā maitasminsamavādayiṣṭhā mṛtyuriti vā ahametamupāsa iti sa yo haitamevamupāste no eva svayaṃ nāsya prajā purā kālātpramīyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सः ह उवाच बालाकिःsaḥ ha uvāca bālākiḥBālāki said; spoke Bālāki
यः एव एषः छायापुरुषःyaḥ eva eṣaḥ chāyāpuruṣaḥ“the puruṣa who is in the shadow”; “the person who is in the shade”
तम् एव अहम् उपासे इतिtam eva aham upāse iti“him I revere”; “precisely him I worship”
तम् ह उवाच अजातशत्रुःtam ha uvāca ajātaśatruḥAjātaśatru said to him; that Ajātaśatru replied
मा मा एतस्मिन् समवादयिष्ठाःmā mā etasmin samavādayiṣṭhāḥ“do not draw me into talk of him”; “do not make me discourse of him”
मृत्युः इतिmṛtyuḥ iti“Death”; “the ending”
वै अहम् एतम् उपासे इतिvai aham etam upāse iti“so do I revere him”; “thus I worship him”
सः यः ह एतम्saḥ yaḥ ha etamand he who him; the one who him
एवम् उपास्तेevam upāsteso reveres; worships thus
न उ एव स्वयम्na u eva svayamneither himself; and neither he himself
न अस्य प्रजा पुरा कालात्na asya prajā purā kālātnor his line before its time; nor his progeny prematurely
प्रमीयतेpramīyatedies; perishes
Translation
Bālāki said: “The puruṣa who is in the shadow — him I revere.” Ajātaśatru said to him: “Do not draw me into talk of him! I revere him as Death.” And he who so reveres him — neither he himself nor his line dies before its time.
Version
ac9ec9d3e119 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:43:45 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Fourth in the inner series is the shadow, and the correction names it without circumlocution: mṛtyu, Death.
The image is exact and terrible in its simplicity. The shadow is as unshakeable as the echo, but, unlike the echo, it is dark; everyone standing in the light has one, and it is with him everywhere. So too death: it does not arrive from outside at its hour — it accompanies the living from the very start.
This correction shows how the whole conversation works. Bālāki sees a puruṣa in the shadow and reveres him as something benign; the king calls the thing by its name. The reverence does not thereby become false — it becomes honest.
And the fruit is built by the same rule of likeness, but with a turn: the reverer of Death — “neither he himself nor his line dies before its time”. He who has acknowledged death and named it receives not immortality but a term: he will not die before his hour.
In this is the sobriety proper to the whole book. It does not promise the householder the abolition of death; it promises that death will come on time. Of the same were the petitions of the second adhyāya — that the children not go before the father.