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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.100.5
Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 100: Jābāli challenges the exile. He questions permanent family ties, offerings to the dead and belief in the unseen, urging Rāma to accept the available Kingdom
In the sequence: he argues that each person is born and dies alone, and that family, property, and homes are temporary associations, like lodgings on a journey
2.100.5
yathā grāmāntaraṃ gacchan naraḥ kaś cit kva cid vaset
utsṛjya ca tam āvāsaṃ pratiṣṭhetāpare 'hani
Just as a man travelling to another village might lodge somewhere, and then, quitting that lodging, set out again the next day —
Words: yathā — just as; grāmāntaraṃ — to another village; gacchan — going, travelling; naraḥ kaś cit — some man; kva cid — somewhere; vaset — might lodge, dwell; utsṛjya ca — and leaving behind; tam āvāsaṃ — that lodging; pratiṣṭhetāpare — would set out on the next; 'hani — day
Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.