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FRASER JAMES BAILLIE, 15th laird of Reelig (1783-1856), traveler, writer, and artist. He was the eldest son of Edward Satchell Fraser and grandson of James Fraser, the author of The History of Nadir Shah (London, 1742). Born in Edinburgh, he spent his boyhood in the family home at Moniack (now…

FRAŠŌ.KƎRƎTI – (Sk.tr. vráddhi-kráti-, akṣaya-, Mid. Pers. frašegird, Man. Mid. Pers. prš(y)gyrd; probably: making wonderful or excellent), Avestan compound consisting of the adjective fraša- and the ti-abstract of kar (to make). It is an eschatological term referring to the final renovation and transfiguration of Ahura Mazdā’s creation after evil has…

FRATARAKA “leader, governor, forerunner” (fratara- ; Av. fratara- “fore-, former”; BSogd. prtr; cf. OInd. pratarám, Gk. proteros; Brandenstein and Mayrhofer, p. 119), ancient Persian title. In the Achaemenid period. Frataraka was the title of the administrative head of a district or province in Egypt (q.v. i), immediately under the satrap…

FRAVAŠI (OP *fravarti, Pahl. fraward, frawahr, frōhar, frawaš, frawaxš), the Avestan word for a powerful supernatural being whose concept at an early stage in Zoroastrianism became blended with that of the urvan. The urvan is the human soul, which in pre-Zoroastrian times was believed after death to pass a shadowy…

FRAWARDĪGĀN (New Pers. farvardagān), name of the ten-day Zoroastrian festival (gāhānbār) at year’s end in honor of the spirits of the dead. The name itself is elliptic for (rōzān ī) frawardīgān (ten days dedicated to) the frawards. The festival is divided into two five-day halves. The first half is known…

FRAWARDĪN YAŠT (New. Pers. Farvardīn Yašt), the thirteenth of the Zoroastrian yašts (see AVESTA), devoted to the fravašis. It is accounted one of the eight great yašts, and is the longest of all (158 verses). It is also the most frequently recited, after that to Ohrmazd, being used in funerary…

FRĀXKARD (Mid. Pers.of Av. Vourukaša with wide extending inlets, also called Warkaš in Mid. Pers.), name of the cosmic ocean in Iranian mythology. According to a myth preserved in the Pahlavi books, at the beginning of the creation the rain god Tištriia/Tištar made the clouds rain all over the earth….