Life at the Burning Ghats: A Sociological Stu...

Life at the Burning Ghats: A Sociological Study of the Dom Community of Varanasi

Author Name : Rajesh Sharma

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56025/IJARESM.2024.1206242071

ABSTRACT Varanasi is one of the oldest living cities in the world it is best known for cultural heritage. It is a city of temples, ghats, and cultural pluralism. There are two crematorium grounds in the history of Kashi (Varanasi) which are famous for burning dead bodies, Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghat. The Dom community performs an important task of cremation of Hindus at Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghat in the Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh. The Dom was classified as a Scheduled Caste under article 341 of the Indian constitution. According to the census of 2011 the total population of the Dom community stands at 110,353. They are believed to be the descendant of Dom Raja and the caretaker of the crematorium grounds. 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 researcher has selected two Ghats of Varanasi for the purpose of this study namely, Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghat. This paper is an attempt to study the livelihood pattern and socio-economic background of the Dom community of Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghat of Varanasi district of U.P.