The Doms appear to be one of the chief aboriginal tribes of northern
India, who were reduced to servitude like the Mahars and Chamars. Sir
H. M. Elliot considered them to be "One of the original tribes of
India. Tradition fixes their residence to the north of the Ghagra,
touching the Bhars on the east in the vicinity of the Rohini. Several
old forts testify to their former importance, and still retain the
names of their founders, as, for instance, Domdiha and Domingarh in
the Gorakhpur district. Ramgarh and Sahukot on the Rohini are also
Dom forts." [321] Sir G. Grierson quotes Dr. Fleet as follows: "In a
south Indian inscription a king Rudradeva is said to have subdued a
certain Domma, whose strength evidently lay in his cavalry. No clue
is given as to who this Domma was, but he may have been the leader
of some aboriginal tribe which had not then lost all its power"; and
suggests that this Domma may have been a leader of the Doms, who would
then be shown to have been dominant in southern India. As already seen
there is a Domaru caste of Telingana, with whom Mr. Kitts identified
the Berias or Kolhatis. In northern India the Doms were reduced to
a more degraded condition than the other pre-Aryan tribes as they
furnished a large section of the sweeper caste. As has been seen also
they were employed as public executioners like the Mangs. This brief
mention of the Doms has been made in view of the interest attaching
to them on account of the above suggestions, and because there will
be no separate article on the caste.