In the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata, King Shantanu wants to marry Satyavati. Her father has doubts about the rights of her future sons. Shantanu’s son Devavrata answers him in front of the assembled chiefs: “Ye kings, I have already relinquished my right to the throne.”
The father still has doubts about Devavrata’s own children. So Devavrata adds: “O fisherman, from this day I adopt the vow of Brahmacharya,” lifelong celibacy. By this vow he became known as Bhishma.
In the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata, the sun god Surya warns his son Karna that Indra will come in disguise and ask for his armor and earrings. “When the wielder of the thunder-bolt asks you for them, do you never give him your ear-rings!”
Karna refuses the advice. “Permit me now, O foremost of celestials, to observe my vow,” he answers, “so that unto him of the thunderbolt coming to beg of me, I may give away even my life!”
Every year Kerala celebrates Onam, the festival of King Mahabali’s return. In the story, Vishnu comes to Mahabali as Vamana, a young Brahmin, and asks for as much land as he can cover in three steps. Mahabali’s guru Shukracharya warns him, but “he decided to keep his promise.”
Vamana covers the earth and the heavens in two steps, and Mahabali offers his own head for the third. Vamana grants him a boon: “that he could return to his kingdom during the 10-day festival of Onam.”
Section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 makes a Hindu wedding binding at an exact moment. “Where such rites and ceremonies include the Saptapadi (that is, the taking of seven steps by the bridegroom and the bride jointly before the sacred fire), the marriage becomes complete and binding when the seventh step is taken.”
Naan oru thadava sonna, nooru thadava sonna madhiri. If I say it once, it is as if I had said it a hundred times. Rajinikanth says it in the Tamil film Baasha (1995).
Satyameva jayate. Truth alone triumphs. The phrase opens verse 3.1.6 of the Mundaka Upanishad. It is the national motto of India, inscribed in Devanagari below the Lion Capital of Ashoka in the State Emblem.
As a schoolboy, Mohandas Gandhi saw a play about King Harishchandra. In his autobiography he wrote: “This play – Harishchandra – captured my heart.” He added: “‘Why should not all be truthful like Harishchandra?’ was the question I asked myself day and night.”
In the Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas’s retelling of the Ramayana, King Dasharatha has promised Queen Kaikeyi two boons. She asks that her son Bharat be crowned and that Rama be sent into exile for fourteen years. Dasharatha is broken by grief, but he keeps his word.
The poem explains it in one line: Raghukul reet sada chali aayi, pran jaye par bachan na jaai. It has always been the rule in the house of Raghu. Life may go, but a promise may not.
“Ek baar jo maine commitment kar di, fir main apne aap ki bhi nahi sunta.” Once I have made a commitment, I do not even listen to myself. Salman Khan says it as Radhe in Wanted (2009).
The film site Filmibeat lists it among the 16 most famous Hindi film dialogues. The wording varies slightly between sources.
Zabaan is the Hindi and Urdu word for tongue. It also means a promise. The Rekhta dictionary gives vachan and vaada, both meaning promise, among its senses. Zabaan dena, to give one’s tongue, means to give one’s word.