Which Comes First, Night Or Day?

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Which Comes First, Night Or Day?

Nachiketas spent three days in Yamaloka without food. It was a dangerous situation. Yamadutas cautioned Yamaraja: taking care of a guest is not even by choice. If the unexpected guest goes back unattended, it spells disaster for the host. Yamaraja is aware of this.

Yamaraja wants to compensate for this dereliction. He tells the young boy Nachiketas:

'तिस्रो रात्रीर्यदवात्सीर्गृहे मे ऽनश्नन् ब्रह्मन्नतिथिर्नमस्यः। नमस्तेऽस्तु ब्रह्मन् स्वस्ति मेऽस्तु तस्मात्प्रति त्रीन्वरान्वृणीष्व॥'

You stayed for three nights here at my home without food. I want to make up for that. Please ask for three boons from me. Otherwise, I will be doomed.

Why? We have seen this in the earlier episode. The guest is fire. Any guest is like fire. He needs to be taken care of, pacified. An unattended guest—even if he is the calmest and most peaceful person in the world—can burn down the house of the host, simply because the host is not doing his duty. You cannot afford to be careless with fire.

Yamaraja is scared now. He is trying to pacify Nachiketas. 'Namasyaha'—you deserve honor and respect. Twice he addresses Nachiketas as 'Brahman':

'ब्रह्मन्नतिथिर्नमस्यः। नमस्तेऽस्तु ब्रह्मन्॥'

Yamaraja is eager that Nachiketas should not feel offended. It is like saying, 'I am so sorry, I am so sorry,' repeating it again and again.

Here, there is an interesting point. Why does Yamaraja say that Nachiketas has spent three nights at his place, instead of saying three days? There are two reasons:

In the Vedic system, night comes first, then day. For a person who performs Agni Upasana, the evening homa comes before the morning homa. If someone is unable to perform it for some time—due to an impurity in the family, for instance—and then has to restart, they should not start with the morning homa; they should start with the evening homa. The first part is the evening homa, the second part is the morning homa. Thus, night holds more importance than day. In the same way, Krishna Paksha comes first, then Shukla Paksha. This is the Vedic system.

Another point is that Uttarayana is daytime for the Devas, while Dakshinayana is nighttime for the Devas. 'Dakshina' means south, which is the direction of Yama, who resides in the south. This is another reason night is significant for Yama.

This concept is seen throughout Vedic literature. When Shringi curses Raja Parikshit, he specifies that before the seventh night from now, Parikshit will be killed by Takshaka. The default is night, and the counting is by nights.

Knowledge Bank

What was the curse of Shakuntala?

Dushyanta had secretly married Shakuntala and returned to the palace. He had promised to take her later. Once, Maharshi Durvasa visited. At that time, Shakuntala was lost in the thoughts of Dushyanta. She did not notice the Maharshi's arrival. Durvasa was offended. He cursed that whoever she was thinking about would forget her.

What does suta stand for?

Suta is the name of a mixed-varna caste in which the mother is a Brahmin and the father is a Kshatriya. Due to a defect at the Suti (सूतिः) where soma juice is extracted during king Prithu's yajna, varna-sankara resulted. Charioteers are also called Sutas.