A History of Sanskrit Literature c11.25

c11.25

The last three sections of Book III. of the Brāhmaṇa, as well as the first two books of the Āraṇyaka, originally belonged to the school of the Kaṭhas, though they have not been preserved as part of the tradition of that school. The different origin of these parts is indicated by the absence of the change of *y* and *v* to *iy* and *uv* respectively, which otherwise prevails in the *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa* and *Āraṇyaka*. In one of these Kāṭhaka sections (*Taitt. Br.* iii. 11), by way of illustrating the significance of the particular fire called *nāchiketa*, the story is told of a boy, Nachiketas, who, on visiting the House of Death, was granted the fulfilment of three wishes by the god of the dead. On this story is based the *Kāṭhaka Upanishad*.