Women Studies

Women Studies

An analytical study of the punishment of women's sins and ritual crimes from the point of view of Sasanid jurisprudence and law (case study: Ardāvirafnaāmeh)

Document Type : -

Authors
1 Ph.D student of Ancient History of Iran, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
2 University of Isfahan
3 Department of History and Iranology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
10.30465/ws.2026.52233.4440
Abstract
Ardāvirafnaāmeh is a Pahlavi mystical intuitive text compiled under the legal jurisprudence mentioned in Vendidād at the end of Sassanid empire.It may be named among the most significant and well-known Mazdyasn works,used to understand principals of Zoroastrian's opinions on afterlife.The anti-feministic nature of Sassanian jurisprudence according to women's punishments and inferior position in the other world has been analyzed in the present paper.The main question is how ignoring women's ritual duty like wifehood and motherhood led to criminal responsibilities and what was the approach of Sassanid criminal procedure about women.The results indicate people's religious opinions had been broken through as a result of emerging chaos in society and family structures.Mazdak uprising and increasing spread of Buddhist,Christianity, Manichaeism and arrival of philosophers to Iran,played a significant role.There was a force majeure to adhere people to current religion because Zoroastrian religion and Avestan teachings were the ruling spirit of legal jurisprudence and basis of the Sassanian empire.Compiling Aradāvirafnāmeh ascension letter and his afterlife visiting was a desperate attempt to maintain the mastery.By reviewing and rethinking, one can understand Zorwanistic attitude of the compilers toward women targeted by anti-feministic laws for natural impurities like menstruation and also ruin of family and approved marriages.
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  • Receive Date 15 June 2025
  • Revise Date 17 September 2026
  • Accept Date 23 September 2026