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diamonds in his custody and set out on his business errand. He had earned a huge amount of money abroad. After twelve years he was on his way back home. Unfortunately his ship sank in the sea and all his wealth was lost. The Seth came to Satyaghosh and demanded of him to return his four diamonds. At this the Brahman, known as Satyaghosh, turned the Seth out of his house declaring him to be a mad person. Now the Seth knocked the door of the king for justice. But the king paid no heed to his petition. However, the queen traced out the theft of Satyaghosh through her own spies. She recovered the diamonds from his house and placed them in front of Seth. The Seth picked up only his own diamonds out of them. Thus the king was convinced beyond doubt about the deceit of Satyaghosh.
The king sentenced Satyaghosh to undergo any one of the three punishments i.e., either he should eat three plates full of cow dung; or suffer thirty two blows of his wrestlers; or forfeit all his possessions. The sinful Satyaghosh was almost dead with humiliation. At first he preferred to eat cow dung but could not eat the whole of it. Then the king ordered a wrestler to give him hand blows. But just one stroke of the wrestler left him almost half-dead. Ultimately the helpless Satyaghosh had to surrender all his wealth to the king. In this way the wretched fellow had to suffer all the three punishments one after the other. This deep shock resulted in his death and thereafter he was reborn as a snake in the king's treasure house.
The persons who are not beset with crookedness, falsehood and deceit, alone are entitled to attain an unblemished soul.
Taisha maso birjo Brahamloko na yaishu jihmnritam na maya chaiti
Followers of all religions have applauded the virtue of truthfulness whole heartily. In 'Manu Smriti' the significance of truth has been stated as below:
Ekmaivadvitiam tu prbruvnachbudhatai Satyam savargasya sopanam paravarsya nauriv
I.e., A truth speaking person is regarded as unique. Like a boat that peddles in the ocean and takes us ashore, truth is the ladder that leads to heaven.
The following couplet 207/67 of the Maha Vana Parva states truth thus:
Vedasyoupanishat satyam satasyopnisad dama Damasyopishat tyaga shishtacharaishu nityasha
The essence of the Vedas is truth; the essence of truth is self-restraint is abstinence is always present in the conduct of cultured persons. Even if we weigh thousands of horse sacrifices (Ashwamedha Yaga) on one scale, and truth on the other scale of a physical balance, we shall discover that truth is heavier i.e., superior to thousands of horse sacrifice ceremonies. This fact has been stated in the Adi Parva' of the '
Mahabharat'
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