… The fravašis thus help in war, and they give aid also in peace. They are “givers of … a boon to the eager, of health to the sick, givers of good fortune to him who invokes them, worshipping, satisfying, bringing offerings” (Yt.13.24). In fact, like the Indian pitaras, the fravašis receive reverence and supplication in very much the same way as the gods themselves, and are held to have the same capacity to answer prayers and bestow boons. It seems probable that protective powers, perhaps early attributed to the heroic departed, were magnified with the development of the doctrine that blessed souls might hope to dwell with the gods them
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Offerings for this purpose had to be made ritually and at specified times, in order that they should reach the spirits through the barrier of matter; and so ancient and deep-engrained were the customs concerned that they survived the change of belief in the destiny of the departed, and to this day gifts of food and clothing are still made by Zoroastrian and Brahman alike for the benefit of souls in Paradise. This anomaly existed already in ancient times, for it is plain that both Vedic Indians and pagan Iranians believed that the blessed obtain “not only long life there by the gift of the mercy of the gods; they obtain the merit of … the sacrifices which they have offered, and the gifts which they have given to the priest, and at the same time they are nourished by the piety of their relatives on earth, as they have nourished in their turn their forefathers”. 59 The spirits thus enjoy offerings made directly to them in the present, in ritual manner, or given to priests on their behalf. If food, for example, is placed abundantly before priests, the soul in heaven benefits.60 Among the Iranians it is likewise held that food given ritually to a dog, who in a mysterious way represents the spirit world, will reach the departed soul. 61
The rites for the soul are especially numerous in the first year after death. During this time the spirit was called in India a preta, a “departed one”, and was thought of as not yet fully accepted into the community of the Fathers. 62 Exactly the same belief persisted among Zoroastrians, namely that the newly-departed soul led at first a somewhat separate existence. The responsibility for performing the rites on its behalf devolved upon the dead man’s next-of-kin or heir, and he should maintain them for at least 30 years.63 These three decades may be regarded simply …………….