Page:Next-of-kin Marriages in Old Iran.djvu/86
propriety or impropriety of the doctrine of the Avesta as regards the creation of mankind, the different uses of the term Khvêtûk-dasih, &c., in which it is difficult, owing to the confusion of different ideas as well as to the obscurity of the text, to distinguish the words of the Jew from those of the Zoroastrian. Any sentence that would seem to be a point in favour of the European view, may naturally be ascribed to the Zoroastrian as well as to the Jew. It is not, therefore, easy to determine whether it is the Zoroastrian or the Jew who advocates or condemns a particular position or custom. However, the portions wherein both the
dominance of the Zoroastrian faith therein. The Shikand-Gûmânîk-Vizâr points to some inconsistencies in the Jewish belief regarding the birth of Messiah. The Chapter, XV. 31, says: "And there are some even" (according to Dr. West's translation)" who say that the Messiah is the sacred being himself. Now this is strange, when the mighty sacred Being, the maintainer and cherisher of the two existences, became of human nature and went into the womb of a woman who was a Jew. To leave the lordly throne, the sky and earth, the celestial sphere and other similar objects of his management and protection, he fell for concealment into a polluted and straitened place."