The Four Great Crimes are a series of four major sins or societal misconducts committed by people.
Four behaviors are considered such severe transgressions in the dharma literature that the individual who does them becomes an outcast from society.
- Murdering a brahmin (brahmahatya),
- Stealing a brahmin's wealth (steya),
- Consuming liquor (surapana),
- And adultery with one's guru's wife are the four acts (gurutalpaga).
Aside from exile from society, another indicator of the seriousness of these offenses was that the punishments were so severe that they almost always resulted in death, and in certain instances, death was directly prescribed.
The dharma literature not only specified such penalties for the real violators, but also expulsion for everyone who knowingly socialized with such persons for more than a year.
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