** "Dom" not say : its "Hearse" **

 

Caste known as "Dom" is wrongly identified as "Dead Body Carrier" in Bengali and Bengali.  "Dome" Caste is basically Bamboo Worker.  They make dol / dali / dhama / etc. from bamboo.  The word "dome" comes from dole (made of bamboo).  Not all "dom" people are dead body carriers either.

They are the weaker section.  So some of these castes have fallen (downwards) due to occupational mobility, which is more or less present in all castes/castes.  So now people carrying dead bodies to hospital morgues and police stations should not be called "Dom".

Let us call them "shab bahok" (in Bengali) or dead body carrier (in English) and not "dom".  Similarly the term Prostitute has now been replaced by Sex Worker.  Similarly Photocopy is called Xerox.  Similarly "Bangladeshi" people are called "Bengalis".  Again, there is a subtle difference between "Bengali" and "Bangladeshi".

 ✍ Written by K Sarkar...