NEW DELHI, Jan. 23 -- A witness has to take an oath before deposition in a court of law in the country. The oath is as follows, although the language varies from court to court: "I do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I shall state the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth".

The truth is qualified as the "whole truth" and "nothing but the truth".

What the oath indicates is that the court does not want to hear any coloured truth or half truth. For instance, it was announced during the Mahabharata war that Aswathama, the elephant, was killed.

When this was announced, the announcer said the words "the elephant" in a lower pitch. The purpose was to mislead Dronacharya into believing that his son Aswathama was killed...