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The Farohars have existed long before the world came into being. Farohar, or Fravahar, is the Pahlavi form of the Avestan Fravashi. The Pahlavi works do not speak of the Farohars of Ormazd and his heavenly ministers; in the writings of this period, the Farohars are confined to the earthly creatures. Every single good creature of this world has its own Farohar.^[1] Ormazd created them long before he brought the universe into existence; and they actively worked by the creator's side, when he fortified the sky against the attacks of Ahriman. Mounted on horses and with spears in hands they patrolled the boundaries of the rampart of heaven.^[2] At the beginning of the world Zaratusht's Farohar was shown to Goshorun to console her that in the fulness of time the prophet would be sent to the world to remove the inequity that was rampant on earth.^[3]

They volunteer to descend to earth and stand by men to the end of their lives. From the beginning of time the Farohars lived in supreme felicity in the empyrean realm, along with Ormazd and his heavenly host.^[4] When Ormazd created man, as the climax and crown of his earthly creation, the deity asked these spiritual intelligences whether they would wish to stay in heaven under his constant protection, or migrate to earth in human bodies and encounter the foe, fight with him valiantly, vanquish him in the flesh and return triumphant to God for the eternal reward. The Farohars accepted the latter alternative, and prepared themselves to face the attack of Ahriman.^[5] Thus the Farohars, who were seated in heaven and were conscious of the beatific vision of Ormazd, prefer the voluntary exile for a time in the world of joy and sorrow, of good and evil, in order to win forever the uninterrupted bliss of heaven. Thus it is,