Dignity Under Fire: The Dom Workers Of Varanasi

There are approximately 200 Dom workers who stoke the Hindu funeral pyres at the Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi. Their leader Om Chadhury is called the Dom Raja and all of the men of the Dom community work under him or his nephew Shalu Chaudhry. Often treated as untouchable, Dom workers are shunned by the rest of Varanasi city. Their work of lighting funeral pyres with unwashed corpses carries obvious dangers. One study notes, “burning the bodies is a difficult task that involves various risk factors that directly affect their health.”

Dom community performing the last rites at Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook

Raj Kumar Chaudhary has been working since he was 12 | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook

Members of Dom Raja Om Chaudhry’s family sit in their home | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook

A view shows with a rooster in the foreground near the Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi. | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook

Ravi Kumar, 25, works as a rickshaw driver in Varanasi | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook

Shalok Chaudhary, Dom community member, with his grandmother in Varanasi | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook

Raj Kumar Chaudhary Dom community at Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook

Shalok Chaudhary's house in Varanasi | Photo: Suresh K Pandey/Outlook

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