A Lie Never Justifiable | Page 5

ancient

Hindoos.
[Footnote 1: See Wheeler's _History of India_, I., 321.]
There is a famous passion-play popular in Southern India and Ceylon,
which illustrates the Hindoo ideal of truthfulness at every risk or cost.
Viswamitra, the tempter and accuser as represented in the Vedas,
appears in the council of the gods, face to face with Indra. The question
is raised by Indra, who is the most virtuous sovereign on earth. He asks,
"What chief of mortals is there, who has never told a lie?" Harischandra,
king of Ayodiah (Oude) is named as such a man. Viswamitra denies it.
It is agreed (as in the testing of Job, according to the Bible story) that
Viswamitra may employ any means whatsoever for the inducing of
Harischandra to lie, unhindered by Indra or any other god. If he
succeeds in his effort, he shall secure to himself all the merit of the
good deeds of Harischandra; but if Harischandra cannot be induced to
lie, Viswamitra must add half his merit to that of Harischandra.[1]
[Footnote 1: Arichandra, the Martyr of Truth: A Tamil Drama
translated into English by Muta Coomâra Swâmy; cited in Conway's
_Demonology and Devil Lore_, II., 35-43.]
First, Viswamitra induces Harischandra to become the custodian of a
fabulous treasure, with a promise to deliver it up when called for. Then
he brings him into such a strait that he must give up to Viswamitra all
his possessions, including that treasure and his kingdom, in order to
retain his personal virtue. After this, Viswamitra demands the return by
Harischandra of the gold which has been already surrendered, claiming
that its surrender was not according to the contract. In this emergency
Viswamitra suggests, that if Harischandra will only deny that he owes
this amount to his enemy the debt shall at once be canceled. "Such a
declaration I can never make," says Harischandra. "I owe thee the gold,
and pay it I will."
From this time forward the efforts of Viswamitra are directed to the
inducing of Harischandra to say that he is not in debt to his adversary;
but in every trial Harischandra refuses to tell a lie. His only son dies in
the desert. He and his wife are in poverty and sorrow; while all the time
he is told that his kingdom and his treasures shall be restored to him, if
he will tell only one lie. At last his wife is condemned to death on a
false accusation, and he is appointed, by the sovereign of the land
where she and he have been sold as slaves, to be her executioner. She

calls on him to do his duty, and strike off her head. Just then
Viswamitra appears to him, saying: "Wicked man, spare her! Tell a lie
even now, and be restored to your former state!"
Harischandra's answer is: "Even though thou didst offer to me the
throne of Indra, I would not tell a lie." And to his wife, Chandravati, he
says encouragingly: "This keen saber will do its duty. Thou dead, thy
husband dies too--this selfsame sword shall pierce my breast.... Yes, let
all men perish, let all gods cease to exist, let the stars that shine above
grow dim, let all seas be dried up, let all mountains be leveled to the
ground, let wars rage, blood flow in streams, let millions of millions of
Harischandras be thus persecuted; yet let truth be maintained, let truth
ride victorious over all, let truth be the light,--truth alone the lasting
solace of mortals and immortals."
As Harischandra strikes at the neck of Chandravati, "the sword, instead
of harming her, is transformed into a necklace of pearls, which winds
itself around her. The gods of heaven, all sages, and all kings, appear
suddenly to the view of Harischandra," and Siva, the first of the gods,
commends him for his fidelity to truth, and tells him that his dead son
shall be brought again to life, and his kingdom and treasures and
honors shall be restored to him. And thus the story of Harischandra
stands as a rebuke to the Christian philosopher who could suppose that
God, or the gods, would co-work with a man who acted on the
supposition that there is such an anomaly in the universe as "a lie of
necessity."
The old Scandinavian heroes were valiant in war, but they held that a
lie was not justifiable under any pressure of an emergency. Their
Valhalla heaven was the home of those who had fought bravely; but
there was no place for liars in it. A fine illustration of their conception
of the unvarying duty of truthfulness is given in the saga of Fridthjof.
Fridthjof, heroic son of Thorstein, loved Ingeborg, daughter of his
father's friend, King Bele. Ingeborg's brother Helge, successor to his
father's throne, opposed