Brahmahatya

(“brahmin murder”) In the dharma literature, which gives instruction on religious duties, brahmahatya is one of the
120
Brahmacharin
four great crimes that makes one an
outcast from society. This crime’s seriousness stems from notions of brahmin
sanctity and status; with the exception
of self-defense, the deliberate murder of
a brahmin holds serious repercussions.
Even the gods are subject to this act’s
negative karmic consequences. Hindu
mythology records that the god
Bhairava wanders the earth for years
after cutting off one of the heads of the
god Brahma. The skull sticks to his
hand as a visible sign of his crime until it
finally falls off at Kapalamochana. In
the more lenient prescriptions in the
dharma literature, the punishment for a
brahmin murderer is parallel to that of
Bhairava. The murderer has to carry the
skull of the dead man for twelve years,
wearing only a rough garment to cover
his loins, and during that period he has
to live on alms, begging at no more
than seven houses per day. After twelve
years he is deemed pure, unless the
murder was intentional, in which case
the term of punishment is doubled.
According to several commentators,
however, when a brahmin is intentionally murdered by a kshatriya, vaishya,
or shudra, the only possible expiation
(prayashchitta) is death.