Abstract
Dom community belongs to a marginalized section of Hindu society. Their preliminary work is to engage in the last rites of Hindu cultures by burning the corpses. The notion of purity and pollution is the core of Hindu religious life, where hereditary occupations of the peoples are assigned by their birth, which determines their ascribed status in the society. Thus, both religious practices along with purity and pollution notion of the caste system foster these funeral workers to work in the informal sector of India. The work of burning the corpses is a challenging task, which includes several risk factors directly impacting their health status. The paper tries to capture the challenges encountered by Dom funeral workers in the unorganized sector.
The original version of this chapter was revised: The author name “Nemethianngai Guite” has been changed to “Nemthianngai Guite”. The correction to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8421-9_21
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Change history
15 November 2019
The objective of the paper is to highlight the growing ‘casualisation’ in the Indian labour market with special reference to the tea plantation industry in India and Darjeeling.
Notes
- 1.
Cremation/burning ghats: An area on the bank of river place where burning of dead bodies takes place in a particular area, along with other economic activities such as selling of woods and shrouds and interactions among castes groups.
- 2.
Pari system is like Turn/Share system. The turns of person keep on changing/rotating.
- 3.
Ghat refers to a defined segment of river frontage between 30 and 200 yards in length. Most ghats have been constructed to form series of stone terraces and stairs running down into the sacred water of the Ganges (Parry 1980:90).
- 4.
Term given by Kaushik (1976).
- 5.
Choudhary is the surname of Dom.
- 6.
Madi is a structure with a roof and pillars, where sacred fire is kept and dealing of mourners and Dom took place.
- 7.
Informed by Dom respondent.
- 8.
Frequency of pari refers to occurrence of pari within a time frame.
References
Aggarwal, N. (1985). Varanasi ke Dom Jatiki Samajik–Aarthik Dasha Ka Samaj Vegiyanik Adhyan, Unpublished, PhD Thesis, Banaras Hindu University.
Bhattacharya, S., & Lucassen, J. (2005). Informalisation in History. In S. Bhattacharya & J. Lucassen (Eds.), Workers in the informal sector: Studies in labour history 1800–2000 (pp. 1–19). Palgrave MacMillan.
Briggs, G. W. (1953). The Ḍoms and their near relations. Wesley Press.
Engels, F. (2005). The condition of the working class in England. In D. Banks & M. Purdy (Eds.), The sociology and politics of health: A reader (pp. 22–27). Routledge.
Gokhale, J. (1993). From concessions to confrontation: The politics of an Indian untouchable community. South Asia Books.
Kaushik, M. (1976). The symbolic representation of death. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 10(2), 265–292.
National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS). (2009). The challenge of employment in India: An informal economy perspective. Volume I, Main report.
Parry, J. (1980). Ghosts, greed and sin: The occupational identity of the Benares funeral priests. Man, 88–111.
Qadeer, I., & Roy, D. (1989). Work, wealth and health: Sociology of workers’ health in India. Social Scientist, 45–92.
Sengupta, A., Kannan, K. P., Srivastava, R. S., Malhotra, V. K., & Papola, T. S. (2007). Report on conditions of work and promotion of livelihoods in the unorganised sector. National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector, Government of India, New Delhi.
Swaminathan, M. (1991). Understanding the “informal sector”: A survey (pp. 1–33). World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University.
Waitzkin, H. (1981). The social origins of illness: a neglected history. International Journal of Health Services, 11(1), 77–103.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kumari, S., Guite, N. (2019). Occupational Health Issues in Funeral Work: A Study of Dom Caste in Varanasi City, Uttar Pradesh. In: Panneer, S., Acharya, S., Sivakami, N. (eds) Health, Safety and Well-Being of Workers in the Informal Sector in India. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8421-9_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8421-9_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-8420-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-8421-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)