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that they came to the court of King Gushtasp as the envoys of Ormazd, to give proof of the divine calling of the prophet. Moreover, when Zoroaster met Vohuman, he actually saw the body and the face of the archangel, his size, and his garments, and in these celestial conferences with the archangels the prophet was requested by each in turn to command mankind to take due care of the concrete thing under the special charge of each as an Amshaspand and not the abstract virtue that each impersonates. Vohuman, for instance, as the genius of good mind, did not emphasize the faithful adherence to good thoughts, but contented himself with reminding the prophet to teach mankind to take care of the cattle. Artavahisht, the genius of righteousness, gave no command to Zaratusht to exhort men to follow the path of righteousness, but taught him that the best way of propitiating the heavenly spirit was to propitiate his fire. Similarly the other archangels in these celestial interviews did not hold up as the ideals the virtues over which they presided, but they inculcated due preservation of their respective earthly objects. A Pazend penitential prayer, whose authorship is attributed to Dastur Adarbad Mahraspand, the high-priest and premier of King Shapur (309–379 A.D.), mentions the Amshaspands by name, and exhorts the penitent to atone severally for the sins committed against them. In every case he addresses each archangel in turn and craves forgiveness for any offence that may have been committed by ill-treating the earthly object over which the genius presides Offences against the abstract virtues which the archangels impersonate are not mentioned in this treatise,^[1] and this fact tends decidedly to show that phase of Zoroastrianism in which abstract ideas were gradually losing in importance, and the concrete side of the religion was coming out with greater prominence.

This process of materializing the original abstract concepts reaches its climax in the eschatological notions of this period. The several heavens and hells, as also the bridge of judgment that leads to them, are now completely materialized. All the splendours of a royal court with its golden thrones, rich carpets, fine cushions are transferred to paradise. On the other hand, all sorts of physical tortures that man's ingenuity can devise prevail in hell.