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.

His father ignored his son at first because he felt Nachiketa was mocking his poverty. But, when Nachiketa persisted and kept offering himself as a substitute donation to the cows, his father got upset. He shouted at Nachiketa that he would indeed donate Nachiketa and would do so to the god of death. At his words, this truly happened. Nachiketa was transferred from the land of the living to the land of the dead immediately, to the horror of his father.