A Dialogue at Death’s Door: Naciketas Retold

Though narratives from the Purāṇas and epics are far more prevalent in Hindu imaginings, the Upaniṣads also provide a series of enduring stories. This paper focuses on modern refigurations of the didactic dialogue between Naciketas and Yama in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad. The narrative itself is relatively straightforward: a young child made to wait at Death’s doorstep is granted three wishes, one of which is to learn about death itself. However, its complex teachings, including the famous chariot analogy, have long invited reflection and interpretation. Exploring three different formations—in Advaita Vedānta storytelling, in a 1979 issue of the illustrated series Amar Chitra Katha, and in a 45-minute water and light show in Gandhinagar, Gujarat—I attend to how the chosen form of the retelling factors into differential emphases aimed at diverse target audiences.