Incest, Classified

Abstract

Abstract The prohibition on incest, a topic so key to kinship studies, has not featured prominently in literature on Tibet. This article draws attention to a previously unreported section of writing devoted to the topic of incest, composed by the Tibetan ‘prime minister’ Sangye Gyatso (Sangs rgyas rgya mtsho, 1653–1705), one of the principal architects of the Tibetan state. Sangye Gyatso sets out what purports to be a threefold classification of incest, traditional to Tibet, and considers how aspects of it are to be interpreted. The present article focuses on some of the significant issues raised by this piece. Among these are questions about the context and circumstances of its appearance, the status of incest as a category in historical Tibet, and the place of religious and state authority in the social domain.