By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist
The story of Nachiketa comes from the Upanishads, so from 2,500 years ago, essentially, belonging to a period in history when the theories of karma, rebirth and liberation, were being slowly consolidated in the Indian subcontinent. Nachiketa was a young boy who observed his father donating cows to secure himself a place in heaven. However, his father had cows that were old and could not bear calves and give milk. Nachiketa felt that if his father kept offering such mediocre cows as donations, he would never get a place in heaven. In his innocence, Nachiketa asked his father if he should not give something else he possessed instead, something of greater value — Nachiketa, his own son.
