[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021) › c5.s6.6 # Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.s6.6 Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.s6.6 - **Language:** English ### [c5.s6.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c5.s6.6) A person who knows but prefers not to give an answer gets himself encaged in a thousand nooses of Varuṇa. If a person called as a witness in a dispute speaks carelessly, he also gets himself encaged in a thousand nooses of Varuṇa. Out of these one thousands nooses, one noose is released annually. Therefore a person should speak truth without concealment (whenever there is a dispute or a debate) in the assembly. If \*dharma\* is entangled with \*adharma\* in an assembly, it is the duty of each and every member of the assembly to take off the dart, lest they themselves be entangled with that \*adharma\*. In an assembly where a sinful act is not condemned, half of the demerit of that sinful act clings to the head of that assembly, one-fourth of it to the guilty, and the remaining fourth to the members of the assembly present there. - [Previous: c5.s6.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c5.s6.5) - [Next: c5.s6.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c5.s6.7) - [Up: c5.s6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c5.s6) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c5.s6.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.tripathi-2021.c5.s6.6) · Pramāṇa