Markandeyapurana 8.18

8.18

nātaḥ parataraṃ dharmaṃ vadanti puruṣasya tu /
yādṛśaṃ puruṣavyāghra svasatyaparipālanam //

The birds spoke:
Then his wife in words broken with weeping answered the king, who was distressed, dejected, anxious, with downcast face—“Leave off care, O Mahārājā; preserve thy truthfulness; a man destitute of truth should be avoided like a burning-ground. There is no higher righteousness, they say, for a man than this, namely, maintaining his truthfulness, O noble man! Oblations to consecrated fire, or study, or the whole circle of good deeds, such as liberality, &c., are fruitless in him who speaks at random. Truthfulness is constantly declared in the Dharma-śāstras to tend to the salvation of men of understanding; and falsehood to the overthrow of men of uneducated minds. A king named Kṛti, after offering seven horse-sacrifices and a Rājasūya sacrifice, fell forthwith from Svarga for falsehood. O king, I have given birth to a child—”Thus having spoken she wept alond. The king spoke as follows to her whose eyes were bathed in tears.