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They were allowed by Chosroes the First a certain administrative power in civil matters; the collection of the revenue was to take place under their supervision; they were empowered to interfere in cases of oppression, and protect the subject against the tax-gatherer. The Zoroastrian worship was intimately connected with fire-temples and fire-altars.
Vohu-manu, or Bah-man, and Amerdat, or Amendat, two of the councillors of Ormazd, became the objects of a worship, which was clearly of an idolatrous character. Shrines were built in their honor, and were frequented by companies of Magi, who chanted their incantations, and performed their rites of divination in these new edifices as willingly as in the old Fire-temples.
Very minute information is supplied us by these writers regarding the ancient castles and fire-temples scattered over the whole of Fars in abundance. The latter is of capital importance since here was the residence of those two classes of Persian society, noblemen and priests, who were the staunchest conservators of the ancient national tradition.
In the last year of the reign of Jezdegerd, the supposed guardian of Theodosius, a bishop, who aspired to the crown of martyrdom, destroyed one of the fire-temples of Susa. His zeal and obstinacy were revenged on his brethren: the Magi excited a cruel persecution; and the intolerant zeal of Jezdegerd was imitated by his son Varanes, or Bahram, who soon afterwards ascended the throne.
And it is said that he built in Fars a city called Fasa and he built fire-temples in India, etc., and appointed herbeds to the same. He assigned several dignities to seven of his noblemen in his dominions and appointed each of them to the charge of a district.
We already produced above the information of the Arab geographers of the tenth century regarding the abundance of fire-temples and castles in Fars. They relate that there was no village or hamlet of this province in which there was no fire-temple. Residence was taken up in strong castles by the native aristocrats whose ideals were rooted in the Sasanian epoch.
Little evidence of their religion remains in Persia at the present day, except their "towers of silence" and the ruins of their old fire-temples. These latter were built chiefly of soft adobe bricks, and after the lapse of centuries, are nothing more than shapeless reminders of the past.
Position of Man between the two Worlds of Good and Evil. His Duties: Worship, Agriculture, Purity. Nature of the Worship. Hymns, Invocations, the Homa Ceremony, Sacrifice. Agriculture a part of Religion. Purity required: 1, Moral; 2, Legal. Nature of each. Man's future Prospects. Position of the Magi under the Sassanians; their Organization, Dress, etc. The Fire-temples and Altars. The Barsom.
"The Parsees, of whom a few families own half the place, are prominent in business, as in Bombay; and they supply the most skilful mechanics, the liveliest clerks, and the quickest boys in the schools. They have two fire-temples here. The Hindus, especially the Buniahs and the Jains, are as prominent as in Bombay.
And he built fire temples in the country and lighted them with that fire. For it is stated that the fires which are in their fire-temples are burning from that fire to this day.
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