Sweeping and scavenging in the streets and in private houses are the
traditional occupations of the caste, but they have others. In Bombay
they serve as night watchmen, town-criers, drummers, trumpeters and
hangmen. Formerly the office of hangman was confined to sweepers,
but now many low-caste prisoners are willing to undertake it for the
sake of the privilege of smoking tobacco in jail which it confers. In
Mirzapur when a Dom hangman is tying a rope round the neck of a
criminal he shouts out, '_Dohai Maharani, Dohai Sarkar, Dohai Judge
Sahib_,' or 'Hail Great Queen! Hail Government! Hail Judge Sahib!' in
order to shelter himself under their authority and escape any guilt
attaching to the death. [247] In the Central Provinces the hangman was
accompanied by four or five other sweepers of the caste _panchayat_
the idea being perhaps that his act should be condoned by their
presence and approval and he should escape guilt. In order to free the
executioner from blame the prisoner would also say: "_Dohai Sarkar ke,
Dohai Kampani ke; jaisa maine khun kiya waisa apne khun ko pahunchha_"
or "Hail to the Government and the Company; since I caused the death of
another, now I am come to my own death"; and all the _Panches_ said,
'_Ram, Ram_.' The hangman received ten rupees as his fee, and of this
five rupees were given to the caste for a feast and an offering to
Lalbeg to expiate his sin. In Bundelkhand sweepers are employed as
grooms by the Lodhis, and may put everything on to the horse except a
saddle-cloth. They are also the village musicians, and some of them
play on the rustic flute called _shahnai_ at weddings, and receive
their food all the time that the ceremony lasts. Sweepers are, as
a rule, to be found only in large villages, as in small ones there
is no work for them. The caste is none too numerous in the Central
Provinces, and in villages the sweeper is often not available when
wanted for cleaning the streets. The Chamars of Bundelkhand will not
remove the corpses of a cat or a dog or a squirrel, and a sweeper must
be obtained for the purpose. These three animals are in a manner holy,
and it is considered a sin to kill any one of them. But their corpses
are unclean. A Chamar also refuses to touch the corpse of a donkey,
but a Kumhar (potter) will sometimes do this; if he declines a sweeper
must be fetched. When a sweeper has to enter a house in order to
take out the body of an animal, it is cleaned and whitewashed after
he has been in. In Hoshangabad an objection appears to be felt to
the entry of a sweeper by the door, as it is stated that a ladder
is placed for him, so that he presumably climbs through a window. Or
where there are no windows it is possible that the ladder may protect
the sacred threshold from contact with his feet. The sweeper also
attends at funerals and assists to prepare the pyre; he receives the
winding-sheet when this is not burnt or buried with the corpse, and
the copper coins which are left on the ground as purchase-money for
the site of the grave. In Bombay in rich families the winding-sheet
is often a worked shawl costing from fifty to a hundred rupees. [248]
When a Hindu widow breaks her bangles after her husband's death, she
gives them, including one or two whole ones, to a Bhangia woman. [249]
A letter announcing a death is always carried by a sweeper. [250]
In Bengal a funeral could not be held without the presence of a Dom,
whose functions are described by Mr. Sherring [251] as follows:
"On the arrival of the dead body at the place of cremation, which
in Benares is at the basis of one of the steep stairs or _ghats_,
called the Burning-Ghat, leading down from the streets above to the
bed of the river Ganges, the Dom supplies five logs of wood, which he
lays in order upon the ground, the rest of the wood being given by the
family of the deceased. When the pile is ready for burning a handful of
lighted straw is brought by the Dom, and is taken from him and applied
by one of the chief members of the family to the wood. The Dom is the
only person who can furnish the light for the purpose; and if for any
reason no Dom is available, great delay and inconvenience are apt to
arise. The Dom exacts his fee for three things, namely, first for the
five logs, secondly for the bunch of straw, and thirdly for the light."