Dhammapada verse 295
Chapter 21, Miscellaneous (Pakiṇṇakavagga) · verses 290–305
“Having slain mother and father, and two prosperous kings, and a tiger as the fifth, the brahmin walks on untroubled.”
Mātaraṁ pitaraṁ hantvā, rājāno dve ca sotthiye; Veyagghapañcamaṁ hantvā, anīgho yāti brāhmaṇo.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 295 mean?
Verse 295 belongs to chapter 21, Miscellaneous (Pakiṇṇakavagga), which gathers verses 290–305 on miscellaneous reflections. It is filed under no theme. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 294 and verse 296 are part of the same passage.
Sixteen verses of miscellany, which is what the title means. The chapter collects short reflections that did not sit under one of the other headings — on speech and silence, on the mind, on what a person should hold to — and its lack of a single subject is itself part of the book’s shape.