Traditional Indian society was built around a collection of endogamous groupings called jatis ("birth").
The group's hereditary occupation, over which each group has a monopoly, was used to organize (and determine their social status) these jatis.
The Doms are a jati whose hereditary occupation was cremating corpses in traditional northern Indian society.
They have a low social status due to their frequent contact with dead bodies, which are considered the most violently impure of all objects.
Despite their low rank, some Doms are quite rich, notably those who oversee the cremation ghats in Benares, since a corpse cannot be burnt without their participation. Any flat region on a river's bank is referred to as a ghat.
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