("Sinner
Great") A person who has done one of the Four Great Crimes, namely
murdering a brahmin (brahmahatya), stealing a brahmin's wealth (steya),
consuming liquor (surapana), or engaging in adultery with one's guru's wife,
according to dharma literature (guru talpaga).
These acts were so horrible that the perpetrator was
ostracized from society.
Another indicator of the seriousness of these deeds was that
their repercussions (prayashchitta) were so terrible that they usually resulted
in death; in certain instances, death was directly ordered.
Apart from the real perpetrators, the dharma literature also
imposed outcaste status for everyone who knowingly mingled with such
individuals for more than a year.
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