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that they tenant human bodies and temporarily adopt the material vehicles for the express purpose of routing evil and redeeming the world from its imperfection.

In the Pahlavi period their influence is less prominent. In the Pahlavi texts the Farohars are represented as intrusted with the work of guarding the soul of Sam,^[1] and the Hom tree of immortality,^[2] as well as the passage of hell.^[3] Ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine of them watch over Zaratusht's seed, which will give birth to the three saviour renovators of the world in the last three millenniums.^[4] As a part of their office also they help and keep pure the elements and the sun, moon, and stars;^[5] and they preserve the breath of life and energy of the body in men,^[6] and keep the bodily organs in unison.^[7]

The zeal with which they were approached by the living in the Avestan period has considerably abated by this time. The faithful no longer invoke them for various boons as zealously as their forebears did. The fighting armies do not call upon them for help in the thick of battles. Men do not look to them for riches and plenty; and women do not turn their eager eyes to them for easy childbirth. Their hold on humanity is weakened, and they are less in touch with the daily lives of men than before.

One of the later Pahlavi works divests the Farohars of their spirituality, and identifies them with the stars.^[8] The Farohars of the renovators are spoken of as created from the body of the first man.^[9]

It is for the welfare of the living that the Farohars solicit sacrifices. It is the sacred duty of the faithful to commemorate the Farohars of the dead, especially on the days set apart for that purpose.^[10] The Farvardigan festival was a national institution, and the kings and people zealously observed it. A Byzantine ambassador on his way to Persia in 565 was prevented