[Buddha-l] Cross vs. parallel cousins

[Mitchell Ginsberg]

Hello Joanna and all, 
You write in part: 
"I was addressing whether or not their being cousin-brothers and preferential cross-cousin marriage had anything to do with the case. Somehow the B's abusive langyage doesn't pose a problem for me--especially after what Devadatta tried to do to his brother. The Buddha after all was a human."

I see the explanation of cross-cousins (child of your father's sister or of your mother's brother) and also of parallel-cousins (child of your father's brother or your mother's sister), if I understand F.K. Lehman (F.K.L. Chit Hlaing)'s explanation of these terms correctly), making the B. and Devadatta parallel-cousins, I suppose, but what is the "preferential" part. I take it that Siddhartha was born of the privileged mother/sister in this story. Are there passages that explain that either in the Tipitaka or Atthakatha or Tika (or elsewhere)? 

Thank you.
Mitchell
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