Ramayana — Yuddha Kanda, Sarga 87, Shloka 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||
Даже если чужие добродетельны, а свои лишены достоинств, всё же свои — пусть и с изъяном — предпочтительнее; ибо кто «чужой», тот чужим и остаётся.
"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."
FAQs
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.