Satyamev Jayate

It had to be Aamir Khan. To come up with a super programme bringing out the various issue with our society.

Of late I have been fascinated by words and their precise meaning. I immediately went on to the programmes website and was pleased to find the translation to be ‘Truth Alone Prevails’ though I had always thought the meaning to be ‘Only Truth Prevails’, I am no Sanskrit guru I always believed the former to be transliteration while the later was a translation.

The key word for me here is ‘Prevails’. It is so tempting to translate this sentence into so many other alternatives

‘Truth Alone is Victorious’

‘Truth Alone Wins’

‘Truth Always Wins’

‘In the end truth wins’

‘Satya ki jeet hamesha hoti hai’

…

While I agree with the statement that truth always wins, this sentence is not really referring to this (I feel).

‘Prevails’.

Victory, Victorious, Wins, Jeet. All these to me are time bound and limited, these words are limited to one battle, one villain, one triumph.

‘Prevails’ on the other hand suggests continuity. It is also neutral. Whoever/Whatever said it, does not claim to know whether truth is good or bad, but is very sure of the fact that no matter what ‘Truth Alone Prevails’. So if you want to have sustained success then hold on to truth. It almost seems to be saying ‘Don’t waste your time on other stuff, just take care of the one thing, Truth, and the rest will take care of itself’.

PS: There are so many other statements with similar neutrality that I can think of (and somehow they are all linked). ‘There are no punishments, there are no rewards. There are only consequences’.