Abstract

The Dom community is part of a deprived section of the Hindu society. Their essential task is to cremate the dead bodies as per Hindu tradition. The profession of cremation is extremely inhumane, not only in terms of the working environment but also because of the stigma attached to funeral work. The Dom community performs an important task of cremation of Hindus at Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghat in the Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh. The Hindus believed that the dead man would attain moksha only when the Dom or Dom raja lights the pyres, and rituals are considered to be complete only after this. The Dom community has long been considered one of India’s untouchable castes regardless of the contribution they make to the society. They have faced a great deal of prejudice, social persecution, and ostracism. About 250-300 of them reside around the ghats of Varanasi cut off from the rest of the city. The widespread perception was that Untouchables were impure due to the nature of their profession, which has only been reinforced by their compulsory occupations. This paper is an attempt to study the livelihood pattern and background of the Dom community. Methodology for conducting research is based on primary and secondary sources of data; books, articles, academic journals, magazine and newspapers etc.