The Rashtrakutas and their Times c21.25

c21.25

Hāḍi, Domba, and Badhatau now remain to be considered. What section of the untouchables is called Hāḍi by Alberuni is not clear; he tells us that of all the classes below the castes, the Hāḍis are the best spoken of, because they keep themselves free from everything unclean, though their work was the cleansing of the villages etc. That the Dombas were regarded as untouchable is proved also by the Rājatarangiṇī; King Chakravarman went outside the court hall when he had to see a troop of Domba dancers.¹⁴ It is true that he subsequently began to share his bed with some of the Domba dancing girls, but he was all along conscious of having committed a grievous sin thereby. The term Badhatau of Alberuni is an apabhraṅśa of vadhaka or the executioner, who is untouchable even according to the Dharmaśāstra literature.