Domba - Occupations

Occupations

People identified as Doms have long been workers at cremation places, scavengers, or weavers of ropes and baskets. They are also traditionally well known for their musical ability. A medieval history describes the Dom community as a caste that makes its living from music. There are furthermore references to certain ragas entitled Dombakriti, Dombakriya, Dombakrī, Domb and Dombikā, and a deshī or "folk" tāla called Dombuli. Even to this day, the various Dom communities continue to provide India with skilled musicians. It seems that with Islamic invasions, the caste declined in importance and its traditional musical skills were condemned.

Most currently some Dom earn their living by entertaining as street performers and jugglers. In a typical show, known colloquially as Dombaryacha khel (DombaraaTa in the south of India), i. e. a performance by the Domba(ri), the whole family participates. The older males usually demonstrate their expertise with a long whip, including the ability to withstand self-flagellation of a bare torso with the whip in a fairly dramatic manner.

The older womenfolk often don't actively participate in the show but stand by the sidelines as assistants. The younger members of both genders perform acrobatic feats. A typical act in the Dombaryacha khel is balancing an hour-glass shaped object on a string, which in turn is tied to a stick at each end. (See Chinese yo-yo.) The sticks are flicked sharply to catapult the hourglass object 50–60 feet in the air, which then is expertly caught in the string just before it reaches ground. Adopting a mongrel dog as a pet is fairly common as is the use of the trained mongrel in their performances.