Note 83 — D. (continued 2)

The Doms of the Himalayas. 41. The Doms of Kumâun have been thought to be akin to the aboriginal Râjis; but the latter repudiate the idea and profess the very greatest contempt for the Doms; so that if one of that class enter the dwelling of a Râji, the place must be purified with water brought from twenty-two different sources. They are supposed to be the relics of the original inhabitants of the country, corresponding to the Dhiyar or ore-smelters of Jammu, the Bâtal of the Kashmîr Valley, the Bem of Ladâkh, the Newâr of Nepâl. In Garhwâl they appear to have been enslaved by the immigrant Khasiyas. Under the name of Dûm they are described in Jammu83 as “dark in colour, small in limb, and their countenance is of a much lower type than that of the Dogras generally, though one sees exceptions, due no doubt to an admixture of blood, for, curiously, the separation of them from the daily life of the others does not prevent an occasional intercourse that tends in some degree to assimilate the races.” In the Himalayan Districts of these Provinces the Dom has been recognised as a descendant of the Dasyus of the Veda, who are supposed to have held Upper India before the advent of the Nâga or Khasa race.