The punishment for the commission of the gravest offences by a Brahman was that he became a Sudra, that is to say an outcast.

The killing of a Sudra was an offence no more severe than that of killing certain animals.

A Sudra was prohibited by the severest penalties from approaching within a certain distance of a member of any of the higher castes.

In the Sutras [10] it is declared [11] that the Sudra has not the right (Adhikara) of sacrifice enjoyed by the Brahman, Kshatriya and Vaishya.

He was not to be invested with the sacred thread, nor permitted, like them, to hear, commit to memory, or recite Vedic texts.