would be a member of the family in direct descent through his mother) he can only assist and advise the widow, but on the birth of his son he can act more authoritatively, as the representative of the child.
* Written aévdk-aé in Pazand. She becomes a yfikan or
‘only-child’ wife (see § gn) until she has given up her first child
to her mother, after which she is a ‘ privileged’ wife.
* The three nights after death (see Chap. XXIV).
188 DADISTAN-1 DINIK.
Cuapter LVI.
1. As to the fifty-fifth question avd reply, that
which you ask is thus: What is this adopted-sonship
and guardianship of the family, and what does it
become; zz what manner is it necessary to appoint
zt, whence is it necessary to provide food and clothing
for it, and how is it necessary to be for it?
2. The reply is this, that the adopted-sonship 1s
thus :—It is requisite whenever a man of the good
religion is passing away, while Ze zs a complete ruler
of a numerous household!, who has no wife and
child that may be privileged? and acknowledged,
mor associating brother, zor son by adoption, and
his property is sixty stirs* of income. 3. The con-
trolling (khidayinag) of the property is to be
publicly provided ou? of the kindred of the deceased,
and is called the adopted-sonship; and he is to be
appointed to it who is the nearest of the same lineage
(min ham-naéfan), who wz/d manage aud keep the
property united in its entirety.
1 Reading vad marak khan shah bundaké6, but the phrase can also be read vad malk&an shah bandaké6, ‘while Ze zs a servant of the king of kings (that is, a subject of the Iranian sove- reign), which is evidently the reading adopted by Mrq in Chap. LVII, 2, where it substitutes the Huz. synonym malk4 for shah, but here the word shah is uncertain. ‘This ambiguous phrase can also be read vad mark-ahangiha bundaké, ‘ while the agonies of death are complete.’
? See Chap. LIV, 9.
* About 84 rfipis (see Chap. LII, 1n); but the actual value of such an income depends upon the value of silver at that time, or, in other words, upon the prices of the necessaries of life.
Chapter Lvi, I-9. 189
4. The guardianship of a family is that when a
guardian as to be appointed in that manner over
the family of a man whose wife’, or daughter, or
infant son is not fit for their own guardianship, so
it is necessary to appoint some one. 5. And it is
necessary to appoint the adopted son azd the family
guardianship at such time as may be convenient to
them; and when the man passes away as I have
written it is necessary to appoint at such period as
I have written, and to neglect z¢ temporarily, even
the length of a year, would not be authorised.
6. /72¢ for adoption is a grown-up sister who is
not adopted in another family?, then a brother's
daughter, then a brother’s son, azd then the other
nearest relatives. 7. /7¢ for the family guardian-
ship is first the father of the serving w/e (Aagar) %,
then a brother, then a daughter, and then the other
nearest relations; among brothers he who is the
eldest (mas) among ¢hem is the fittest.
8. The food and clothing of a wife that may be
privileged —who is the house-mistress of the family,
and is one kind of adopted son—of a living infant
son till he becomes grown up, azd of a daughter of
the family while she is in the guardianship of the
family guardians‘, are out of the property of the
family so long as it exists for the purpose.
9. Lt has become the custom ¢hat the lapfuls and
? Because she is not a privileged wife, but a serving one (see Chap. LIV, 9), as appears from § 7.
? A woman or child cannot be adopted by more than one family (see Chap. LVII, 3). The case under consideration is that men- tioned in § 2, when the deceased leaves no wife, child, or brother.
* Referring to the case assumed in § 4.
* That is, till she is married.
190 DADISTAN-I DINIK.
armfuls! of the family guardian are every month
four stirs of, it may be, sixteen ?, which is the dis-
bursement (andazisn6), for food, clothing, medicine,
and shelter, out of the income (bar), or out of the
capital (bin), of the property which remains in the
family, by a perfect ? wife when she is capable—such
as the former house-mistress—so as want of nourish-
ment (atafdadd) may not come nakedly and unlaw-
fully upon them.
Cuapter LVII.
1. As ¢o the fifty-sixth question azd reply, that
which you ask is thus: Who is suitable for adoption,
and who is not suitable ?
2. The reply is this, that a grown-up man of the
good religion who is intelligent, a complete ruler of a
numerous household‘, expecting offspring, azd not
having sins worthy of death is suitable for adoption ;
even when he has accepted either one adoption, or
many adoptions, he is then still suitable for another
adoption. 3. Anda grown-up woman, oy evena child,
is suitable for one adoption, dv¢ when adopted in
one family she is not suitable for another adoption.
1 That is, an ample remuneration (see Chap. LIV, 10).
* So the sentence may be literally translated, but it is not quite certain that this is the meaning intended, as the language used is very involved. ‘This would imply that the family guardian is entitled to one-fourth of the family expenditure.
* It is doubtful what noun is to be connected with the adjective pir; perhaps we should read ‘ full disbursement’ in the foregoing part of the sentence, and omit the word ‘perfect’ here..
* Mr4 has malkaano malka béndak, ‘a servant of the king of kings ;’ but see Chap. LVI, 2.
Chapter Lvii, I-Lviii, 5. Iqi
4. A woman requiring a husband—though a com-
plete worshipper—or a foreigner, or an infidel, or
one having s¢zs worthy of death, is unfit for adoption ;
so also those who are demon-worshippers, she who
is a concubine (shfisar nésman) oy courtezan, and
she who is menstruous are unfit.
Cuaprers LV ILE.
1. The fifty-seventh question is that which you
ask thus: How many kinds of family guardianship
and adoption are ¢here ?
2. The reply is this, that it is said ¢heve are three
kinds, which are the existent, the provided, and the
appointed. 3. An adopted son who is existent is such
as a wife who may be privileged, ov an only daughter
is a kind of adopted son owing to confidence in her-
self, such as happens when there is no wife, axd a
daughter for whom there is no husband, and none is
provided, is the one ¢a¢ has remained.
4. An adopted son who is provided is such as
a son that is acknowledged, who is accepted by
one’s self}, and free from dezug appointed, or from
necessity ?.
5. And an adopted son who is appointed is he
who is to be appointed among the relations who are
suitable for adoption—and are nearest to him who
is to be appointed as adopted son—and the ministers
(padan) of religion, azd he performs the duty of
* That is, adopted during the man’s lifetime.
* Reacing ayfif niy4z6, but it may be ay Gfé ¢y4vd, ‘or from
discovery.’
192 DADISTAN-i DINIK.
family guardianship!; he who is the appointed oe is
he who is appointed by the men who are the nearest
relations (nabanazdistan6) on account of proximity.
CuapTer LIX.
1. As ¢o the fifty-eighth question azd reply, that
which you ask is thus: For how much property is
it then necessary to appoint an adopted son?
2. The reply is this, that when the property which
has remained his for whom it is necessary to appoint
an adopted son is as much as sixty stirs? of income,
zt is then indispensable to appoint an adopted son
for him. 3. Even when 2¢ is less they should recog-
nise him whose adoption is needful, axa who con-
ducts an adopted son’s duty; and, similarly, an
adoption is to be appointed for him, though it may
not come as a possession unto him who is fittest for
adoption.
CHAPTER LX,
1. As ¢o the fifty-ninth question axzd reply, that
which you ask is thus: What is the sin owing to
not appointing az adopted son ?
2. The reply is this, that for the man himself z¢ is allowable when he gives up all the property in
* Mrq has ‘an existent family guardianship is zz the son of him appointed, and a provided ome is that when he himself performs the duty in the guardianship ;’ but the phrase interpolated is hardly grammatical,
? About 84 rfipts (see Chap. LVI, 2).
Chapter Lix, I-Lxi, 2. 193
righteous gifts, azd@ when he has no property they
should not provide an adopted-sonship for him, and
his relations are innocent as regards it. 3. But
should they recognise him who has the adopted-
sonship of the deceased, or has accepted the position
of his adopted-sonship 1, ov should they have seized
the property for the adopted-sonship zz order to
appoint an acting adopted son (satérgar), aud he
conducts the adopted-sonship, and throws away doth
the portion (bén) provided for disbursement (vi-
shép6) and the entirety, and quite destroys the
property, and thoroughly ruins the adopted-sonship,
though, on account of not restraining him, it is said
to 6e a sin worthy of death for every single dirham, it
is not said ¢hey are killed outright?
CyuaPTerR LXI.
1. As ¢o the sixtieth question axzd reply, that
which you ask is thus: What is the propriety and
impropriety, the merit azd demerit, of family guar-
dianship ?
2. The reply is this, that the merit is the appoint-
ment and recognition of him who accomplishes more
worthily the greater benefit; the demerit is as ¢o
* M14 has ‘or any one who has accepted the adoption as an adoption.’
* The meaning appears to be that, though, owing to their mis- placed confidence and neglect, they have been guilty of many mortal sins, they are not liable to capital punishment. It is evident that the writer had no apprehension that any property would lie neglected through want of administration, but that he had consi- derable doubts of the prudence and honesty of administrators.
194 DApISTAN-{ DINIK.
him who is unworthy, or him whose worthiness is
not appointed to avert a lesser benefit and the
ruining of a worthy adoption. 3. Nearer details
(khardakd) of the family guardianship which is
proper and which is not proper for an adopted son’s
duty, of the child of good religion with whose business
7¢ is connected, azd of the fathers for whom a family
guardian is to be appointed, are zz the recital of five
chapters (fragard6) of the Htispariim /Vask}, and
zz the abstracts (giriftakdiha) of the good ideas
in various scriptures (nask6) in which many deci-
sions are together.
CuapTer LXII.
1. As to the sixty-first question and reply, that
which you ask is thus: How stand the shares in the
inheritance (mirdt6) of property among those of the
good religion, and how is it necessary for them to
stand therein ?
2. The reply is this, that in the possession of
wealth the wealth reaches higher ov lower, just like
water when it goes in a stream on a declivity, but
when the passage shall be closed at the bottom it
goes back on the running water (piy-4v9), azd then
it does not go to its after-course ®,
1 The seventeenth book of the complete Mazda-worshipping literature, whose sixty-four sections are described in detail in the Dinkard (see Sls. X, 21). The five chapters here mentioned were evidently in that one of the last fourteen sections which is said to have consisted of six chapters on the ownership of property and disputes about it, on one’s own family, acquiring wife and children, adoption, &c.
* This metaphor seems to mean that property, like water, always
Chapter Lxi, 3—Lxii, 5. 195
3. When there is nothing o¢fherwzse in the will
and private’, property goes to a wife or daughter?
who is privileged; if ove gives her anything by will
then she does not obtain the share (das) pertacning
to her®. 4. Whenever‘ a share. for a son is not
provided by it, every one Zas so much and the wife
who may be a privileged one has twice as much ;
and the share of that ove of the sons®, ov even the
wife of a son, who is blind in both eyes, or crippled ®
in both feet, or maimed in both his hands, is twice
as much as that of oze who is sound.
5. And z¢ is needful chat he who was in the father’s
guardianship ska/Z remain in guardianship, as when
a father or mother is decrepit and causing awe
(Aagarin), or of a nurture different from that of the
guardian 7—or a child of his brother or sister, or
a father, or ove*® without nurture apart from him, is
