Dom a community of untouchables who are traditionally assigned with functions like managing dead bodies and cutting, sewing and preserving them during autopsy. Doms are essential part of all hospitals and crematoriums where they are employed for managing filth and dearth. In the cities many of them are engaged in hunting stray dogs. Some members of the dom community are engaged in domestic handicrafts such as kulas (winnowing), baskets, sarposh (cover), jhampis (baskets for keeping flowers), fans, chhupris (baskets), jhudis (big baskets), jharis (for washing rice) etc.

Doms, sometimes called chandals, are members of the Dravidian race. When they came to Bengal is not clear. Many anthropologists believe that they were in Bengal even before the Aryans came, while some others maintain that they were brought from the south during the medieval period. The process of their migration is said to have continued down to mid-nineteenth century. It is believed that doms came to Bengal via Bihar and Orissa. Doms have their own marriage rituals, festivals, and food habits.

Most doms are members of the religious sect of vaisnavism, but in addition to radha and krishna they worship Dharam or Darma-raj in form of a man. The principal festival of doms is the Sravannia Puja, observed in the rainy season. As a part of the puja rituals, a pig is sacrificed and its blood collected in a cup. This cup of blood, along with one of milk and three of spirits are offered to the god. Again, on a dark night of Bhadra (August) they offer a pot of milk, four of spirits, a fresh coconut, a pipe of tobacco, and a small amount of Indian hemp to Hari Ram, after which swine are slaughtered and a feast celebrated. Their diet pattern includes beef, pork, horseflesh, fowls, field rats, and the flesh of animals that have died a natural death. [Gofran Faroqi]