DOMS OF BANARAS: A SOCIO-CULTURAL STUDY

Introduction The modern city of Banaras has been historically known by many names, one of them being Mahashamshan, the great cremation ground. It has been intricately linked with the celebration of death. The Hindus believe it to be the ultimate pilgrimage (Teerth), where death is believed to be liberating in the religious and spiritual sense; hence they wish to spend their last days of life in Banaras, leading to their cremation on the traditional cremation sites (Ghats). Here the two Ghats, which are Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghats, are the primary sites for the performance of the Hindu funeral rituals, and involvement of the family and kin of the dead and require the assistance of various ritual specialists. These specialists are the locals who follow their traditional occupations based on their castes and provide their services. The cremation rituals involve such castes as Mahabrahmans (funeral priests), Nau (barbers), and the Doms (funeral attendants). In my proposed study, I will try to examine the socio-culture aspects of the Doms in Banaras. The Dom community is considered one of the lowest in the social hierarchy in India, intimately involved in Hindu cremation rituals in Banaras; as such, they are also segregated from the mainstream Hindu society with the notion of impurity. The inter-community dynamics of the Dom community with the other communities of Banaras is a significant spot to define the socio-cultural status of the Dom community; sometimes, these inter-community relations reflect the status of Doms in the social hierarchy. The Doms are one essential part of the business of death in Banaras. They primarily work at the Ghats and engage in their ancestral occupation of funeral attendants. The tradition dictates that the funeral can only proceed and be successful if the pyre is lit with a fire produced by a Dom. In this proposed research, an effort will be made to study the Socio-Cultural condition of the Dom community in Banaras and its periphery, and their culture, in the background of their ecological environment, and the larger society, cultural conditions in which the community inhabits. The notion of impurity degrades the Dom community in the social hierarchy. However, they hold a crucial position in the last rituals of the dead in the Hindus. In this proposed research study, I will discuss the behavior of these inter-community dynamics in the context of the socio-cultural study of the Dom community. Also the Psychological consciousness of particular group community is important proposition to analyze the whole intergroup dynamics; here we present the figure of intergroup relation model.My study method will be based on rapport formation with the Doms and in-depth, focused interviews. The interview will be unstructured, knowing the practical limitations of the study like language, comprehension, and minimum level of education is some of them. The secondary sources like government data and the archival materials based on the ethno history of Doms will also back the entire study. Taking this into account, the nature of this research will be exploratory