Page:Next-of-kin Marriages in Old Iran.djvu/80

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
IN OLD IRÂN.
65

abovementioned of the Dâdistân-î-Dînîk contain, according to him, mere "allusions to the brother and sister," who were the first progenitors of mankind; as for the last three, he says it is not certain that "the term is applied in them to the marriages between the nearest relatives." Consequently, we have to examine a few passages only, viz., two of the Bagãn Nask, one from Varshtmãnsar Nask, three of the Dinkard, one of Ys. XLIV. 4, one of the book of Ardâ-Virâf, and one from the later Pahlavi Ravâyet, which, in the opinion of Dr. West, contain direct or indirect traces of the practice of marriage between the next-of-kin.

Before we set out to consider those references, it will be useful to know the extent to which the work of Khvêtûk-dasih—whatever may be its nature or meaning—is extolled or regarded as a righteous or meritorious action in the Pahlavi writings:—

In Chap. IV. of the Pahlavi 'Dînâ-î-Maînôg-î-Khirad,' the reply to the query "Which particular meritorious action is great and good?" is

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.