University of Tehran Iranian Studies 2252-0643 6 2 2017 02 19 Swayamwara: A Marital Custom of the Indo-European Warrior Class Swayamwara: A Marital Custom of the Indo-European Warrior Class 1 20 62821 10.22059/jis.2016.62821 FA Behzad Hosseinzadeh Tehran University Hassan Rezai Baghbidi Associate Professor, University of Tehran Journal Article 2017 03 02 The present essay, entitled ‘Swayamwara: A Marital Custom of the Indo-European Warrior Class’, examines some Indian, Iranian, and Greek literary texts, while outlining a supposed custom of the warrior class in the above-mentioned cultures. The custom is referred to in classical Sanskrit texts as ‘<em>swayamwara’</em>, which means ‘self-choice’. One of the two forms of the custom, which in the present essay will be called Form B (or ‘<em>swayamwara</em> by free will’), comprises a free-will choice by a princess or a warrior-class girl of her husband from among a gathering of noble suitors assembled for this very purpose. There are both explicit and implicit hints in the examined texts that the custom was that of the warrior class while there is, as well, evidence to the contrary. I have tried to reconcile these apparent contradictions. The present essay, entitled ‘Swayamwara: A Marital Custom of the Indo-European Warrior Class’, examines some Indian, Iranian, and Greek literary texts, while outlining a supposed custom of the warrior class in the above-mentioned cultures. The custom is referred to in classical Sanskrit texts as ‘<em>swayamwara’</em>, which means ‘self-choice’. One of the two forms of the custom, which in the present essay will be called Form B (or ‘<em>swayamwara</em> by free will’), comprises a free-will choice by a princess or a warrior-class girl of her husband from among a gathering of noble suitors assembled for this very purpose. There are both explicit and implicit hints in the examined texts that the custom was that of the warrior class while there is, as well, evidence to the contrary. I have tried to reconcile these apparent contradictions. https://jis.ut.ac.ir/article_62821_296ba5a576f0549ba23000d27dc40378.pdf