Upaniṣads · Kaṭha 1.4
॥
Devanāgarī
स होवाच पितरं तत कस्मै मां दास्यसीति ।
द्वितीयं तृतीयम् ।
तं होवाच मृत्यवे त्वा ददामीति
Transliteración (IAST)
sa hovāca pitaraṃ tata kasmai māṃ dāsyasīti /
dvitīyaṃ tṛtīyam /
taṃ hovāca mṛtyave tvā dadāmīti
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
सःsaḥhe; Naciketas
हhaindeed; truly
उवाचuvācahe said; He spoke
पितरम्pitaramto his father; to his father
ततtatafather dear (an affectionate address); father; dear father
कस्मैkasmaito whom; for whom
माम्māmme; by me
दास्यसिdāsyasiwill you give (future of √dā — 'to give'); will you hand over; will you offer
इतिitithus; saying
द्वितीयम्dvitīyama second time; for the second time
तृतीयम्tṛtīyama third time; for the third time
तम्tamto him; it
हhaindeed; truly
उवाचuvācahe said; he answered
मृत्यवेmṛtyaveto Death (dative); to Yama; to the god of death
त्वाtvāyou; by you
ददामिdadāmiI give; I bestow
इतिitithus; so saying
Traducción
He said to his father: "Father dear, and me — to whom will you give me?" He asked a second time and a third. And his father flung at him: "To Death I give you!"
Versión
f67d367a12a0 · publicado 26 jul 2026, 21:13:03 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
Naciketas's question is not impudence but a final honesty: if the sacrifice is called "I give all" (sarvavedasam, verse 1), then the son too is part of that "all". The boy carries his father's vow to its conclusion, to himself: kasmai māṁ dāsyasi — "to whom will you give me?" The address tata — "father dear" — is affectionate: he does not accuse, he asks in earnest, as only children can.
dvitīyaṁ tṛtīyam — "a second time, a third": the persistence that will become his signature (three nights at Yama's door, three boons, a threefold refusal of temptations). The father is silent, for he has nothing to answer with: a truthful answer would lay bare the untruth of the sacrifice. And at the third asking the irritation breaks out: mṛtyave tvā dadāmi — "to Death I give you!" A word flung in anger — but a father's word under a sacrificial vow has the weight of law, and both of them know it.
So the sin of a half-hearted sacrifice gives birth to a word nobody wanted — and Providence makes of it a door. The boy, handed over to Death for asking the truth, will receive from Death the highest truth: the teaching for whose sake the whole Upaniṣad was written. Where the heart seeks truth, even a curse turns into an initiation.