Dom, Domra, Doma, Dombra, Dama
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Dom, Domra, Doma, Dombra, Dama
There is a painful interest attaching to this helot Race, which has for ages been treated as the very dregs of humanity, and condemned to perform the most degrading and disgusting servile duties. That the race is not of Aryan descent is evident from the prevalent type of physique and complexion, but its exact position among the families of the Indian peninsula is still undetermined. Dr. Caldwell1 connects the Doms, Pariahs, and Chandalas with the Dravidian race, and conjectures that prior to the Aryan invasion they were reduced to the condition of slaves; but another theory allies them with certain aboriginal races inhabiting India anterior to the Dravidian migration, who took refuge from the intruders in mountain fastnesses and pestilential jungles, which races have been included by Lenormant2 in "la race melanienne aux chvaux plats et mon laineux," analogous to the blacks of Australia.
It is remarkable that in Kamaon the Doms, said to be of the same lineage as the Rawat, or Raji, a tribe of undoubted aboriginal blood, whom they serve as slaves differ from their masters in having curly hair inclining to wool, and in being all extremely dark.3 The Dom of Bengal, however, has none of these characteristics. His hair is long, lank, and coarse, while his complection is oftener of a brown than a black hue.
Sir H. Elliot,4 on the other hand, traces the original home of the Dom to the banks of the Rohini in Oudh, but the correctness of this supposition has been disputed, and a possible connection between the Dom and Donwar, or Rajput cultivators of Gorakhpur, has been hazarded.5 Buchanan, again, identified Doms with the Domtikar, a division of Sarwaria Brahmans.6
There can be no doubt, however, that the term Dom is indiscriminately applied to many predatory and outcast tribes, who have nothing in common, but their degraded position in the eyes of the people. For instance, in the valley of the Brahma-putra, boatmen and fishermen are always called Doms, or Dom-Patni; in Chittagong Dom is of all fishermen, irrespective of caste; in Oudh of sweepers, and in Arakan of pagoda slaves.7 The genuine Doms have, moreover, broken up into many tribes. The Maghaiya Doms are professional thieves, with the same vagabond propensities as the gypsies; the Mushahar Doms of Bihar are hunters who wander throughout Eastern Bengal shooting tigers, and trapping wild animals; and the town, or scavenger, Dom, or Murda-farosh, is the carrier and undertaker employed at the burial of the dead, with whom Doms manufacturing mats, baskets, and drums, repudiate all relationship.
According to the census returns of 1872, there were in Bengal 222,899 Doms, in Bihar 100,114, and in Orissa 10,615. It is probable, however, that under this head have been included other outcast tribes, as the Patni, for in Dacca, where 641 are returned, it is certain that not a single real Dom is domiciled outside the city, while within its limits not more than twenty houses are occupied by them, which indicates a population of about a hundred souls. A tradition survives among the Dacca Doms, that in the days of the Nawabs their ancestors were brought from Patna for employment as executioners (Jallad) and disposers of the dead, hateful duties which they perform at the present day. On the paid establishment of each magistracy a Dom hangman is borne, who officiates whenever sentence of death is carried out. On these occasions he is assisted by his relatives, and as the bolt is drawn, shouts of "Dohai Maharani!" or "Dohai Judge Sahib!" are raised to exonerate them from all blame.
By all classes of Hindus the Dom is regarded with both disgust and fear, not only on account of his habits being abhorrent and abominable, but also because he is believed to have no humane or kindly feelings. To those, however, who view him as a human being, the Dom appears as an improvident and dissolute man, addicted to sensuality and intemperance, but often an affectionate husband and indulgent father. As no Hindu can approach a Dom, his peculiar customs are unknown, and are therefore said to be wicked and accursed.
For example, it is universally believed in Bengal that Doms do not bury or burn their dead, but dismember the corpse at night, like the inhabitants of Tibet, placing the pieces in a pot, and sinking them in the nearest river or reservoir. This horrid idea probably originated from the old Hindu law which compelled the Doms to bury their dead at night. According to their own account, which must, however, be accepted with hesitation, the dead are cast into a river, while the bodies of the rich or influential are buried. When the funeral is ended each man bathes, and successively touches a piece of iron, a stone, and a lump of dry cow-dung, afterwards making offerings of rice and spirits to the manes of the deceased, while the relatives abstain from flesh and fish for nine days. On the tenth day a swine is slaughtered, and its flesh cooked and eaten, after which quantities of raw spirits are drunk until every body is intoxicated.
Their marriage ceremonies are also peculiar. The guests being assembled on a propitious day, fixed by a Brahman, the bridegroom's father takes his son on his knee, and sitting down in the centre of the "Marocha" opposite the bride's father, who is holding his daughter in a similar posture, repeats the names of his ancestors for seven generations, while the bride's father runs over his for three. They then call God to witness the ceremony, and the bridegroom's father addressing the other, asks him, "Have you lost your daughter?" The answer being in the affirmative, a similar interrogation and reply from the opposite party terminates the service.
The boy bridegroom then advances, smears the bride's forehead with "Sindur" or red lead, the symbol of married life, takes her upon his knee, and finally carries her within doors. Like all aboriginal races, Doms are very fond of gaudy colours, the bridal dress consisting of yellow or red garments for the female, and a yellow cloth with a red turban for the male.
In some parts of Bengal the Doms have a priest called Dharma-Pandit; in Bihar Dom-Brahman, but the Dacca community have not as yet procured the services of one. They are not on this account less attentive to their religious duties. Many Doms belong to the "Pantha," or doctrines of a certain Supan, or Sobhana, Bhagat, a famed Guru of theirs; while others are Haris-chandis1 from a Rajah Haris-chandra,2 who was so generous that he gave away all his wealth in charity, and was reduced to such straits that he took service with a Dom, who treated him kindly. In return the Rajah converted the whole tribe to his religion, which they have faithfully followed ever since.
The principal festival of the Doms is the Sravannia Pujah, observed in the month of that name, corresponding to July and August, when a pig is sacrificed, and its blood caught in a cup. This cup of blood, along with one of milk and three of spirits, are offered to the Deity. Again, on a dark night of Bhadra (August) they offer a pot of milk, four of spirits, a fresh cocoanut, a pipe of tobacco, and a little Indian hemp, to Hari Ram, after which swine are slaughtered, and a feast celebrated.
1 Wilson's "Religious Sects," i, 181.
2 It is of the Rajah that the natives of Bengal tell the following story, so strangely like that narrrated in the xviiith chapter of the Koran regarding Moses and Joshua. He and his Rani, wandering in the forest almost starved, caught a fish and broiled it on a wood fire. She took it to the river to wash off the ashes, but on touching the water the fist revived, and swam away. At the present day a fish called Kalbose (Labeo calbasu), of black colour and yellow flesh, is identified with the historical one, and no low caste Hindu will touch it. In Hindustan the following couplet is quoted, the moral being the same as that of the English proverb, "Misfortunes never come singly."
"Rajah Nal pas bihat pare Bhune muchhle jal men tire.
1 "Grammar of the Dravidian Languages," p. 546.
2 "Manual d'Histoire Ancienne," tome iii, 401.
3 "Asiatic Researches," xvi, 160.
4 "Supplemental Glossary," i, 84.
5 "Notes on the Races of Avadh," By P. Carnegy, p. 24.
6 "Eastern India," ii.453.
7 "Journal A.S. of Bengal," x 679.
Although the Dom eats the flesh of swine, domestic fowls, and ducks, he abstains from beef, and, in Assam, from buffalo meat. He will eat with a Muhammadan in his house, but refuses to touch, or perhaps more correctly denies in public that he ever touches, food brought from a Christian's table. He will, moreover, feast upon the leavings of any Hindu dinner, except that of the Dhobi, who in his eyes is utterly vile from washing the Chhathi garments after childbirth.
In Eastern Bengal the Domni, or female Dom, only performs as a musician at the weddings of her own people, it being considered derogatory for her to do so at any others. At home the Domni manufactures baskets and rattles for children.
The presence of the Dom at any gathering of pure Hindus defiles them all, but his services at the funeral pyre, when the whole asssmblage is unclean, was formerly essential. Of late years, at any rate in Dacca, household servants carry the body to the burning "Ghat," where the pyre constructed by them is lighted by the nearest relative.
A curious custom, observed by all castes throughout Bengal, has the Dom as a participator. Whenever an eclipse of the sun or moon occurs, each Hindu householder places at his door a few copper paisa, which are regarded as the perquisite of the Dom.1
The Acharji Brahman has recently been claiming this oblation as his due; but it is admitted on all hands that formerly he would have spurned the gift. If the worship of Rahu is acknowledged to have been adopted by the Brahmans from the Dosads, may not the presentation of offerings to the Doms be a survival of a cultus of which this aboriginal race were the recognised exponents.
It is a strange fact that Doms have occasionally raised themselves to positions of distinction and authority. One Nabhaji Dom wrote, in the sixteenth century, the Bhakta Mala, a treatise highly valued by the Ramavats; and another, 'Ali Bakhsh Dom, became governor of Rasulabad, one of the districts of Oudh.2
