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Edited excerpts from a submission for Zarathuštrōtema. Studies in Honour of Prof. Philip G.  Kreyenbroek  on the Occasion of His Retirement from the Chair of the Iranian Studies at the  University of Göttingen, Germany, Ancient Iranian Series 3, ed., Shervin Farridnejad, Irvine, CA:  Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, Irvine, CA, 2018

The Gãthũ  (a billet of knotted wood) Bhārvānī Kriyā (a ceremony to keep live fire smoldering and burning below the ashes to preserve the fire) is an ancient priestly ritual done to safeguard the fire and to ensure that if  the sacred fire is ever in danger of being extinguished, the hidden fire, smoldering below the layers of ash can be restored and dedicated visibly for worship. Thereby, the silsila or continuity of this fire which was consecrated sometime after the Parsi arrival in Sanjan is maintained with due ritual care.
Dastur Edalji Navroji Dastur Meherjirana, deputy High Priest (Na’ib Dastur) of the Bhagarsath Anjuman) in Navsari, the scribe who has written about this ritual, received the information from an anonymous priest of Udvada who did not want his name to be revealed to the public. The manuscript presented to the First Dastoor Meherji Rana Library, Navsari, by Edalji describes in detail the ritual of placing a large knot of wood under the layers of ash on the sarposh [a slightly concave lid (posh) resting on the top (sar) of the fire vase and spread with a layer of fine grey fire-ash] of the fire-vase holding the sacred Ᾱtash Bahrām fire.
This priestly kriyā should be treated as a holy literary piece linked to the Gathic verse, Yasna 34.4 which is worthy of study by serious students of Zoroastrian rituals.
Verse 34.4 (Translation)
Then through Aṣ̌a, O Ahurā, do we long for Thy mighty Fire, swiftest, courageous, giver of abiding joy, giver of manifest help, but unto malicious person, O Mazdā, he detects the sinner through the pointings of  hand.  
The Gathic verse extols the miraculous power of the fire to give abundant help and joy to a righteous devotee who protects and preserves the fire. On the other hand the fire detects a sinner at the time of the Last Judgement by pointing at him. The passage exhorts the Zoroastrians to preserve the fire till the time of the Renovation.
The Bhagariā priest, Dastur Jāmāsp Ᾱsā who died in1753 CE before the enthronement of the Anjuman Ᾱtash Bahrām of Navsari in 1765 CE, has given details of how to remove fire-ash (bhasam) from an Ᾱtash Bahrām fire, a practice followed by the Bhagariā priests as per the agreement signed between them and the Sanjānā priests, preceding the latter’s arrival in Navsari.
There seems to be an indirect mention of the three inner fires, made by the learned Sanjānā priest Bahman Kaikōbad (his Indianized name being Vīkjī/Ēkjī Kukā) in the Qissa-ye Sanjān written in 1599 CE.  Kaikōbad mentions that the Irānshāh fire was consecrated with the ālāt brought from Khōrāsān by high-souled priests among whom were ‘several alchemists’ (chandīn kimiyāgar). It is very likely that these alchemists might have brought into existence the three inner fires kept secretly burning  below the Irānshāh fire burning visibly from outside.
Moreover, in Samvat 1821 (1764 CE)  the Anjuman of Udvada wrote a long letter to the Anjuman of Surat in which they mention that the priests of Navsari want to consecrate the new Ᾱtash Bahrām in Navsari: "Let it be known that this is not the time of great ones who were masters of righteousness and astrology. They were devout and they cared for the king of religion. They installed the great Ᾱtash Bahrām in accordance with the rites of religion. There should be one king of religion in our country and so the work of religion could continue. The priests of Navsari want to consecrate another Ᾱtash Bahrām out of pride which they cannot do in accordance with the practice of religion. If a new Ᾱtash Bahrām is to be consecrated, the sages of old would have done it, since they were peerless; yet they did not consecrate another Ᾱtash Bahrām as they knew well that there could be only one King of the Religion.” This seems to be an indirect reference to the wisdom of priests of yore and this spiritual knowledge and wisdom to consecrate a new Ᾱtash Bahrām seems to have been lost according to the Sanjānā priests of Udvada.
The high-souled mobeds (kimiyāgar) of Iran who came with the ālāt of Khōrāsān in Iran and the mobeds of Sanjan together seem to have brought into existence the three hidden fires of the Irānshāh Ᾱtash Bahrām. It is tempting to connect the three fires, viz. Līlēstē, Chēchēstē  and Gōfēstē,  with the ancient spiritual fires  Ᾱdur Farnbag, Ᾱdur Gušnasp  and Ᾱdur Burzīn-Mihr created by Ahura Mazda for the protection and preservation of the world.
The Gãthũ Bhārvānī Kriyā seems to be an ancient Iranian practice which may have emerged during times of conflict and the periods of intense persecution suffered by the Zoroastrians when many sacred fires were doused in Iran and the fire temples either destroyed or converted into mosques. In India the Gãthũ Bhārvānī Kriyā has been in practice for more than a millennium and is done in an effort to save and safeguard a part of the original fire in case the sacred fire is ever doused. It is from the great Udvada fire that all agiaries and atash bahrāms in India have their unbroken link (silsila) with the Irānshāh and their early ritual connection with the sacred fires of Iran through the foundational ālāt of Khorāsān.