Verse 4.256

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

वाच्यर्था नियताः सर्वे वाङ्मूला वाग्विनिःसृताः ।
तांस्तु यः स्तेनयेद् वाचं स सर्वस्तेयकृन्नरः ॥ २५६ ॥

vācyarthā niyatāḥ sarve vāṅmūlā vāgviniḥsṛtāḥ |
tāṃstu yaḥ stenayed vācaṃ sa sarvasteyakṛnnaraḥ || 256 ||

All things are regulated by speech, have their root in speech, and emanate from speech. The man who steals such speech is the stealer of all things.—(256)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The relation between words and their denotations being eternal, things are described as ‘regulated by speech.’

‘Have their root in speech.’— Things are said to have their root in speech, in view of the fact that the ideas of the speaker depend, for their manifestation, upon speech.

‘Emanate from speech,’—are produced out of speech; things are so called, because the ideas of the hearer also are dependent upon speech.

It is not necessary to suspect, or attempt an explanation of, the repetition here involved; because what is stated here is merely a description of things as they are, and as such may be put forward in any manner possible.

He who ‘steals such speech’—misrepresents, having said one thing, does something else; he says something in one sense, and represents it in another sense;—‘is the stealer of all things;’—there is no substance, gold or anything else, which such a man has not stolen.

This is an imaginary statement, deprecatory of telling a lie.—(256)