‘Fire on the Ganges’ Book to chronicle everyday realities of Dom community of Banaras
arun
Posted On July 6, 2023
New Delhi, (PTI) Assigned to the sacred ritual of cremating caste Hindus, the members of the Dom community, a Dalit sub-caste, in Banaras are treated as “untouchables”.
Through their tales of struggle and survival, loss and ambition, betrayal and love, a new book, “Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras”, tells the story of a community struggling to find a place beyond that accorded to it by ancient tradition.
Written by journalist Radhika Iyengar and published under HarperCollins India’s Fourth Estate imprint, the book is an attempt to chronicle the everyday realities of the Doms while plunging into Banaras’ historical past.
“Although my initial reporting began as a way to investigate the paradox of the Doms, who cremate caste Hindus but are treated as ‘untouchable’ by them, I kept returning to the community which is so much more than the unidimensional identity it otherwise has in public consciousness,” Iyengar said in a statement.
As per Hindu mythology, it is believed the Doms have ownership of the “sacred fire” without which the Hindu soul will not achieve liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth.
“We know so little about the Dom community; performing the very essential service of corpse disposal, the Doms exist on the margins of society, their lives relegated to anonymity. Radhika Iyengar’s astounding first book brings us face-to-face in unforgettable ways with members of the Dom community in Banaras, the ancient and holy city where it is said to be auspicious for Hindus to die,” Udayan Mitra, executive publisher, HarperCollins India said.
The book will be released in September this year.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
Courtesy : The Week
Note: This news piece was originally published in theweek.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights
