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Kaṭha Upaniṣad · c. 500–200 BCE · Vedic Sanskrit · Yajurveda
Traditional: Ṛṣi tradition (Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda branch)
Scholarly note: Famous dialogue of Nachiketas and Yama — widely quoted in later Vedānta.
Teach ātman–Brahman identity, discipline of desire, and the path beyond death.
The Katha Upanishad presents one of the most beloved teacher-student dialogues in Hindu scripture: young Nachiketas meets Yama, the Lord of Death, and asks for the truth that survives death. The narrative makes metaphysics memorable through story, choice, courage, and instruction.
Its teaching moves from sacrifice and moral testing to the inward path of the Self. Yama distinguishes śreyas, the good, from preyas, the merely pleasant, and then gives a vision of the immortal ātman beyond birth and death.
Extent · Two adhyāyas, 119 mantras
Vallī-style chapters: sacrifice, self, and supreme puruṣa.
Kaṭha 1.2.20
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत
Arise, awake, and having approached the exalted ones, realize (the truth).