While Brahmanical ideology taught that killing a brahmin (brahmahatya) was the worst of sins and required loss of caste, Puranic mythology told of those who had killed a brahmin and escaped becoming outcaste (candala). This alternative view shifted the focus to devotion (bhakti) and its outward signs in gifts of compassion (dana) and grace (prasada) from the Supreme. So the story in the Skanda Purana about Hemakanta, a prince, had real importance. Hemakanta, the son of the King Kusaketu, committed brahmahatya, the sin of killing a brahmin, on a victim named Satarcas. He was absolved of that sin when he gave a brahmin named Trita some water to drink.
