Hindu religious traditions
Katha Upanishadकठ उपनिषद्
Upanishad
Nachiketas questions Yama about death, the Self and the path beyond ordinary desire.
STORY & TRADITION
The world of Katha Upanishad.
Nachiketas questions Yama about death, the Self and the path beyond ordinary desire.
The Sacred Library
Details & context.
- Tradition dependence
- High — compare the identified textual or regional account.
- Library category
- Shruti
- Form / textual family
- Upanishad
- Traditional attribution
- An inherited textual tradition; no single historical author is established here.
- Subject & teachings
- Nachiketas questions Yama about death, the Self and the path beyond ordinary desire.
- Structure
- Consult the identified edition for chapters, recension and numbering.
- Associated deities / figures
- Nachiketas; Yama
- Textual relationships
- Shruti
- Historical context
- Composition, transmission and redaction must be distinguished; no unsupported exact date is assigned.
- Reading notes
- Read the Sanskrit with an identified translation. Commentary is presented by its own school, not as the only interpretation.
- Tradition notes
- Names and accounts can vary by recension, region and commentary. This entry distinguishes attested details from identifications still requiring a passage-level source.
FOLLOW THE THREADS
Connected worlds.
3 connected profiles. Every path leads to an original record.
Image credit.
Bhagavata Purana manuscript, West Bengal, 16th century (?), LACMA M.88.134.4. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. H. Robert Slusser. Image courtesy LACMA, public domain.
Original source · Public domain, released with LACMA's Public Domain High Resolution Image Available designationResized and converted to WebP.
READ THE SOURCES
Texts & references.
01
Upanishads — Sacred Books of the East XV
Katha, Mundaka, Taittiriya, Brihadaranyaka, Shvetashvatara, Prashna and Maitri.
Shruti · Translations and numbering vary by edition. Separate the primary text from its commentary.Reference overview. Consult the identified text and passage; unestablished fields are explicitly marked.