Shloka 6.87.15
न्यग्रोध-प्रवेश-निवारणम् (Preventing Indrajit’s Banyan-Tree Rite) / Indrajit Confronts Vibhishana
गुणवान्वापरजनःस्वजनोनिर्गुणोऽपिवा ।निर्गुणःस्वजनःश्रेयान् यःपरःपरएवसः ।।6.87.15।।
guṇavān vā para-janaḥ svajano nirguṇo 'pi vā | nirguṇaḥ svajanaḥ śreyān yaḥ paraḥ para eva saḥ ||6.87.15||
Even if outsiders are virtuous and one’s own are without merit, one’s own—though flawed—are preferable; for whoever is “other” remains other still.
"Even if others are virtuous and your own people are not virtuous also one should seek the refuge of one's own people. Strangers are always strangers."
It articulates a clan-based ethic (kula-priority) that the epic problematizes: dharma is not merely ‘standing by one’s own’ but standing by satya. The verse is important as a foil to Vibhīṣaṇa’s dharmic reasoning.
Indrajit offers a maxim to justify condemning Vibhīṣaṇa’s shift of allegiance to Rāma.
Group loyalty and solidarity (as Indrajit defines virtue), contrasted with the Ramayana’s higher valuation of righteousness over blood ties.