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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
12 KATHA-UPANISHAD. Sl EEE! ll ee EE He said it a second anda third time. Then the father replied (angrily) : ‘I shall give thee? unto Death.’ (The father, having once said so, though in haste, had to be true to his word and to sacrifice his son.) 5. The son said: ‘I go as the first, at the head of many (who have still to die); I go in the midst of many (who are now dying). What will be the work of Yama (the ruler of the departed) which to-day he has to do unto me??
21 Dadami, I give, with the meaning of the future. Some MSS. write dasyami. ? T translate these verses freely, i.e. independently of the commentator, not that I ever despise the traditional interpretation which the commentators have preserved to us, but because I think that, after having examined it, we havea right to judge for ourselves. Sankara says that the son, having been addressed by his father full of anger, was sad, and said to himself: ‘Among many pupils I am the first, among many middling pupils I am the middlemost, but nowhere am I the last. Yet though I am such a good pupil, my father has said that he will consign me unto death. What duty has he to fulfil toward Yama which he means to fulfil to-day by giving me to him? There may be no duty, he may only have spoken in haste. Yet a father’s word must not be broken.’ Having considered this, the son comforted his father, and exhorted him to behave like his forefathers, and to keep his word. I do not think this view of Sankara’s could have been the view of the old poet. He might have made the son say that he was the best or one of the best of his father’s pupils, but hardly that he was also one of his middling pupils, thus implying that he never was among the worst. That would be out of keeping with the character of Natiketas, as drawn by the poet himself. Nasiketas is full of faith and wishes to die, he would be the last to think of excuses why he should not die. The second half of the verse may be more doubtful. It may mean what Sankara thinks it means, only that we should gét thus again an implied complaint of Nafiketas against his father, and this is not in keeping with his character. The mind of Nafiketas is bent on what is to come, on what he will see after death, and of what Yama will do unto him. ‘What has Yama to do,’ he asks, ‘what can he do, what is it that he will to-day do unto
3I ADHYAYA, I VALLI, 9. 3 a_i ee 6. ‘Look back how it was with those who came before, look forward how it will be with those who come hereafter. A mortal ripens like corn, like corn he springs up again \.’ (Nafiketas enters into the abode of Yama Vaivasvata, and there is no one to receive him. Thereupon one of the attendants of Yama is supposed to say :) 7. ‘Fire enters into the houses, when a Brahmaza enters as a guest*, That fire is quenched by this peace-offering ;—bring water, O Vaivasvata ?! 8. ‘A Brahmaza that dwells in the house of a foolish man without receiving food to eat, destroys his hopes and expectations, his possessions, his righteousness, his sacred and his good deeds, and all his sons and cattle *.’ (Yama, returning to his house after an absence of three nights, during which time Nadiketas had received no hospitality from him, says :) 9. ‘O Brahmaza, as thou, a venerable guest, hast dwelt in my house three nights without eating,
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
12 KATHA-UPANISHAD. Sl EEE! ll ee EE He said it a second anda third time. Then the father replied (angrily) : ‘I shall give thee? unto Death.’ (The father, having once said so, though in haste, had to be true to his word and to sacrifice his son.) 5. The son said: ‘I go as the first, at the head of many (who have still to die); I go in the midst of many (who are now dying). What will be the work of Yama (the ruler of the departed) which to-day he has to do unto me??
21 Dadami, I give, with the meaning of the future. Some MSS. write dasyami. ? T translate these verses freely, i.e. independently of the commentator, not that I ever despise the traditional interpretation which the commentators have preserved to us, but because I think that, after having examined it, we havea right to judge for ourselves. Sankara says that the son, having been addressed by his father full of anger, was sad, and said to himself: ‘Among many pupils I am the first, among many middling pupils I am the middlemost, but nowhere am I the last. Yet though I am such a good pupil, my father has said that he will consign me unto death. What duty has he to fulfil toward Yama which he means to fulfil to-day by giving me to him? There may be no duty, he may only have spoken in haste. Yet a father’s word must not be broken.’ Having considered this, the son comforted his father, and exhorted him to behave like his forefathers, and to keep his word. I do not think this view of Sankara’s could have been the view of the old poet. He might have made the son say that he was the best or one of the best of his father’s pupils, but hardly that he was also one of his middling pupils, thus implying that he never was among the worst. That would be out of keeping with the character of Natiketas, as drawn by the poet himself. Nasiketas is full of faith and wishes to die, he would be the last to think of excuses why he should not die. The second half of the verse may be more doubtful. It may mean what Sankara thinks it means, only that we should gét thus again an implied complaint of Nafiketas against his father, and this is not in keeping with his character. The mind of Nafiketas is bent on what is to come, on what he will see after death, and of what Yama will do unto him. ‘What has Yama to do,’ he asks, ‘what can he do, what is it that he will to-day do unto
3I ADHYAYA, I VALLI, 9. 3 a_i ee 6. ‘Look back how it was with those who came before, look forward how it will be with those who come hereafter. A mortal ripens like corn, like corn he springs up again \.’ (Nafiketas enters into the abode of Yama Vaivasvata, and there is no one to receive him. Thereupon one of the attendants of Yama is supposed to say :) 7. ‘Fire enters into the houses, when a Brahmaza enters as a guest*, That fire is quenched by this peace-offering ;—bring water, O Vaivasvata ?! 8. ‘A Brahmaza that dwells in the house of a foolish man without receiving food to eat, destroys his hopes and expectations, his possessions, his righteousness, his sacred and his good deeds, and all his sons and cattle *.’ (Yama, returning to his house after an absence of three nights, during which time Nadiketas had received no hospitality from him, says :) 9. ‘O Brahmaza, as thou, a venerable guest, hast dwelt in my house three nights without eating,
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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