Chapter LVII

Pahlavi Texts, Part II (SBE18), E.W. West, tr. [1882], at sacred-texts.com

CHAPTER LVII.

1. As to the fifty-sixth question and 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 ⁴, expecting offspring, and 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. And a grown-up woman, or even a child, is suitable for one adoption, but when adopted in one family she is not suitable for another adoption.

p. 191

4. A woman requiring a husband--though a complete worshipper--or a foreigner, or an infidel, or one having sins worthy of death, is unfit for adoption; so also those who are demon-worshippers, she who is a concubine (shûsar nêsman) or courtezan, and she who is menstruous are unfit.

Footnotes

190:4 M14 has malkâânŏ malkâ bôndak, 'a servant of the king of kings;' but see Chap. LVI, 2.