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

202 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. {cuav. 1.

at very great length because its contents exhibit, in the words of Dr. Haug, “a fair specimen of the practical working of the Zoroastrian religion and code of law.”

All the sins and crimes mentioned by Arda Viraf, and considered as such by the present Parsis, are divided by Dr. Haug into two classes, thus :—

I. Those which are regarded as such by the Christians also.

II. Those which are taken for sins and crimes only from a Zoroastrian point of view, being a violation of the precepts of the Zoroastrian religion.

The following sins and crimes belong to the first class, that is, they are considered to be so by Christians and are punishable according to the English law."

Murder, infanticide, poisoning, adultery on the part of men as well as on that of women, sorcery, sodomy, cheating in weight and measure, breach of promise whether made to a Zoroastrian or non-Zoroastrian, telling hes and deceiving, false covenants, slander and calumny, perjury, dishonest appropriation of wealth, taking bribes, keeping back the wages of labourers, misappropriation of religious property, removal of a boundary stone, turning people out of

1 Some of these are mentioned previously under the head of ‘“ mar-

riage customs.” The priests mention these and ask those about to be married to abstain from them.