Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 14, Shloka 43
Adhyaya 14 — The Messenger of Yama Explains Karmic Retribution and the Causes of Naraka Torments
यैः शास्त्रमन्यथा प्रोक्तं यैरसद्वागुदाहृता ।
वेददेवद्विजातीनां गुरोर्निन्दा च यैः कृता ॥
yaiḥ śāstram anyathā proktaṃ yair asad vāg udāhṛtā /
vedadevadvijātīnāṃ guror nindā ca yaiḥ kṛtā
Those by whom the teaching was spoken contrary to the śāstra; those by whom false speech was uttered; and those by whom the Veda, the Gods, the twice-born, and the Guru were reviled—for them a punishment is stated next.
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FAQs
Speech that distorts dharma—mis-teaching, lying, and slander of sacred sources and teachers—damages social and spiritual order. The text treats such acts as especially destructive because they mislead many, not just oneself.
Ancillary dharma teaching; it supports Purāṇic function as smṛti-like moral instruction.
The ‘tongue’ becomes the karmic focal point: when vāṇī (speech) is weaponized against truth and guidance, the instrument of mantra and learning is inverted—hence a fitting retribution involving the tongue.