Marriage to immediate relatives (MIR) in Shahnameh and Its Background in Pahlavi Texts

This kind of Marriage (MIR) is one of the controversial issues of Pre-Islamic Iran. Some have attributed it to all Iranians while others have attributed it to a certain group in ancient Iran. Undoubtedly MIR has never been specific to Iran and similar typical examples can be found in other cultures and religions. This paper after presenting the history of MIR looks at Firdausi’s Shahnameh that narrates & analyzes the reported Zoroastrian’s and Pahlavi’ accounts of the ancient Iran. Shahnameh reports two accounts in this respect: The first belongs to Daqiqi (the Zoroastrian poet) who justified MIR on basis of Mazdaism texts. The other belongs to Firdausi who knows it as a royal method of marriage in Pahlavi texts. The paper aims to see whether MIR can be shown as an official recognition and legitimate marriage for all Iranian mazdayis on account of pahlavi texts or for a special group.