History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

CHAP. V.] MONOGAMY. 225

and certain rules for the conduct of business were passed with the unanimous consent of the Parsi community. Various wholesome regulations were also established, chiefly against bigamy, a crime then on the increase among Parsis. Bigamy has always been strictly prohibited among them. The law against it was rigidly adhered to by the ancient followers of Zoroaster, and by their descendants in India for hundreds of years, but in more recent times some Parsis, either because of their disagreeing with their first wives, or on account of their barrenness, began to take to themselves second wives. But it must be said to the credit of the earlier Parsi leaders, and of the Panchayet which adjudged social and religious disputes among the people, that they always set their face against this evasion of the law. Whenever special cases occurred, and parties sought permission to take an additional wife, the ruling body reserved the right of deciding as to the validity or otherwise of the application, and sanctioned or rejected it accordingly.

This practice lasted for centuries after the Parsis arrived in India; but about the beginning of the nineteenth century it was found that they were gradually infringing the law, and that many innocent and unoffending wives were forsaken by vicious husbands on trivial grounds, and new ones taken with impunity. The evil engaged the attention of the

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