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This article is about the Vedic deity
Rigvedic deities

There are 1028 hymns in the Rigveda, most of them dedicated to specific deity.Indra, a heroic god, slayer of Vrtra and destroyer of the Vala, liberator of the cows and the rivers; Agni the sacrificial fire and messenger of the gods; and Soma the ritual drink dedicated to Indra are the most prominent deities....
 Mitra. For other divinities with related names, see the general article Mitra
Mitra

*mitra [Hn-In ????? ] was an important Indo-Iranian divinity. Following the prehistoric cultural split of Indian and Iranian cultures, names descended from *mitra were used for the following religious entities:...
.

Mitra (Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
 ) was an important divinity of Indic
Indo-Aryans

Indo-Aryan is an ethno-linguistic term referring to the wide collection of peoples united as native speakers of the Indo-Iranian languages of the family of Indo-European languages....
 culture, descended, together with the Zoroastrian yazata
Yazata

Yazata is the Avestan language word for a Zoroastrianism concept. The word has a wide range of meaning but generally signifies a divinity. The term literally means "worthy of worship" or "worthy of veneration."...
 Mithra
Mithra

Mithra is an important deity or divine concept in Zoroastrianism and later Iranian history and culture.Mithra is descended, together with the Historical Vedic religion deity Mitra , from a common proto-Indo-Iranian entity *mitra "treaty, bond"....
, from a common Proto-Indo-Iranian deity *Mitra
Mitra

*mitra [Hn-In ????? ] was an important Indo-Iranian divinity. Following the prehistoric cultural split of Indian and Iranian cultures, names descended from *mitra were used for the following religious entities:...
, a god of the oath
Oath

An oath is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact....
.

Indo-Iranian word *mitra- could mean either "covenant, contract, oath, or treaty", or "friend".






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This article is about the Vedic deity
Rigvedic deities

There are 1028 hymns in the Rigveda, most of them dedicated to specific deity.Indra, a heroic god, slayer of Vrtra and destroyer of the Vala, liberator of the cows and the rivers; Agni the sacrificial fire and messenger of the gods; and Soma the ritual drink dedicated to Indra are the most prominent deities....
 Mitra. For other divinities with related names, see the general article Mitra
Mitra

*mitra [Hn-In ????? ] was an important Indo-Iranian divinity. Following the prehistoric cultural split of Indian and Iranian cultures, names descended from *mitra were used for the following religious entities:...
.

Mitra (Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
 ) was an important divinity of Indic
Indo-Aryans

Indo-Aryan is an ethno-linguistic term referring to the wide collection of peoples united as native speakers of the Indo-Iranian languages of the family of Indo-European languages....
 culture, descended, together with the Zoroastrian yazata
Yazata

Yazata is the Avestan language word for a Zoroastrianism concept. The word has a wide range of meaning but generally signifies a divinity. The term literally means "worthy of worship" or "worthy of veneration."...
 Mithra
Mithra

Mithra is an important deity or divine concept in Zoroastrianism and later Iranian history and culture.Mithra is descended, together with the Historical Vedic religion deity Mitra , from a common proto-Indo-Iranian entity *mitra "treaty, bond"....
, from a common Proto-Indo-Iranian deity *Mitra
Mitra

*mitra [Hn-In ????? ] was an important Indo-Iranian divinity. Following the prehistoric cultural split of Indian and Iranian cultures, names descended from *mitra were used for the following religious entities:...
, a god of the oath
Oath

An oath is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact....
.

Etymology

The Indo-Iranian word *mitra- could mean either "covenant, contract, oath, or treaty", or "friend". A general meaning of "alliance" might adequately explain both alternatives. The second sense tends to be emphasized in Indic sources, the first sense in Iranian
Iranian languages

The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages and its subfamily, Indo-Iranian languages. These languages are mainly spoken by the Iranian Peoples....
. The word is from a root mi- "to bind", with the "tool suffix" -tra- (compare man-tra-
Mantra

A mantra can be defined as a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of creating transformation. Their use and type varies according to the school and philosophy associated with the mantra....
), a contract is thus described as a "means of binding" (compare Ishara
Ishara

Ishara is the Hittite language word for "treaty, binding promise", also personified as a goddess of the oath.In Hurrian and Semitic traditions, I??ara is a love goddess, often identified with Ishtar....
).

Early history

The first extant record of Mitra is in the inscribed peace treaty between Hittites
Hittites

The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a Hittite language of the Anatolian languages of the Indo-European languages family, and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia ca....
 and the Hurrian
Hurrians

The Hurrians were a people of the Ancient Near East, who lived in northern Mesopotamia and areas to the immediate east and west, beginning approximately 2500 BC....
 kingdom of the Mitanni
Mitanni

Mitanni or Hanigalbat was a loosely organized Hurrian-speaking Hittite vassal state in northern Syria from ca. 1500 BC-1300 BC."The Assyrians called the lands of Mitanni Hanigalbat while to the Hittites it was the land of the Hurrians....
 in the area southeast of Lake Van
Lake Van

Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey, located in the far east of the country. It is a salt lakes and soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains....
, c. 1400 BC. There Mitra appears as one of five deities invoked as witnesses and keepers of the pact, with gods whose names are equivalent to the Vedic Varuna
Varuna

In Historical Vedic religion, Varuna or Waruna is a god of the sky, of waters and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld....
, Indra
Indra

Indra is the god of War and Weather, also the King of the gods or Deva and Lord of Heaven or Swarga in Hinduism. Mentioned first as the chief deity in the sacred Hindu text of Rig Veda, Indra is bestowed with a heroic and almost brash and amorous character....
 and the twin horsemen, the Nasatyas, all of whom the rulers of the Mitanni apparently worshipped. (Campbell, 1964 p 256).

In the Vedas

Vedic
Historical Vedic religion

The religion of the Vedic period is the historical predecessor of Hinduism. Its liturgy is reflected in the Mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit....
 Mitra is the patron divinity of honesty, friendship, contracts and meetings. He is a prominent deity of the Rigveda
Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian subcontinent sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the Rigvedic deities . It is counted among the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas....
 distinguished by a relationship to Varuna
Varuna

In Historical Vedic religion, Varuna or Waruna is a god of the sky, of waters and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld....
, the protector of rta
Rta

Sanskrit language ' as used in Vedic Sanskrit literally means the "order or course of things", cognate to Avestan ' and related to the English right....
. Together with Varuna, he counted among the Aditya
Aditya

In Hinduism, the s are a group of Devas or celestial gods, the sons of Aditi and Kashyapa....
s, a group of solar deities
Solar deity

A Solar Deity , is a deity who represents the sun, or an aspect of it. People have worshiped these for all of recorded history. Hence, many beliefs have formed around this worship, such as the "missing sun" found in many cultures ....
. They are the supreme keepers of order and gods of the law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
.

Varuna and Mitra
Mitra

*mitra [Hn-In ????? ] was an important Indo-Iranian divinity. Following the prehistoric cultural split of Indian and Iranian cultures, names descended from *mitra were used for the following religious entities:...
 are the gods of the oath
Oath

An oath is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact....
, often twinned or identified as Mitra-Varuna
Mitra-Varuna

Mitra and Varuna are two deities frequently referred to in the ancient Indian scripture of the Rigveda. They are both considered Adityas, or deities connected with the Sun; and they are protectors of the righteous order of rta....
 (a dvandva
Dvandva

A dvandva or copulative or coordinative compound refers to two or more objects that could be connected in sense by the conjunction 'and'. Dvandvas are common in some languages such as Sanskrit, where the term originates, as well as Chinese and Japanese, but less common in English ....
 compound). In the Vedic
Vedas

The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in History of India. They form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest Hindu scripture of Hinduism....
 hymns, Mitra is often invoked together with Varuna
Varuna

In Historical Vedic religion, Varuna or Waruna is a god of the sky, of waters and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld....
, so that the two are combined in a dvandva
Dvandva

A dvandva or copulative or coordinative compound refers to two or more objects that could be connected in sense by the conjunction 'and'. Dvandvas are common in some languages such as Sanskrit, where the term originates, as well as Chinese and Japanese, but less common in English ....
 as Mitra-Varuna. Varuna is lord of the cosmic rhythm of the celestial spheres, while Mitra brings forth the light at dawn, which was covered by Varuna. Mitra together with Varuna is the most prominent deity and the chief of the Adityas, in the Rigveda
Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian subcontinent sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the Rigvedic deities . It is counted among the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas....
. Mitra and Varuna are addressed as deva
Deva (Hinduism)

Deva is the Sanskrit word for "god, deity". It can be variously interpreted as a god, spirit, demi-god, Celestial, deity or any supernatural being of high excellence....
s in Rigveda
Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian subcontinent sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the Rigvedic deities . It is counted among the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas....
 (e.g., RV 7.60.12), and in the only hymn dedicated to Mitra, he is referred to as a deva
Deva (Hinduism)

Deva is the Sanskrit word for "god, deity". It can be variously interpreted as a god, spirit, demi-god, Celestial, deity or any supernatural being of high excellence....
 (mitrasya...devasya) in RV 3.59.6.

The pairing with Varuna, a god unknown in Iranian religion, is very strong already in the Rigveda, which has few hymns where Mitra is mentioned without Varuna. RV 3.59 is the only hymn dedicated to Mitra exclusively, where he is lauded as a god of order and stability and as a giver of laws (2b, vrata), the sustainer of mankind (6a, carani-dhrt, literally "of cultivators", said also of Indra
Indra

Indra is the god of War and Weather, also the King of the gods or Deva and Lord of Heaven or Swarga in Hinduism. Mentioned first as the chief deity in the sacred Hindu text of Rig Veda, Indra is bestowed with a heroic and almost brash and amorous character....
 in 3.37.4c) and of all gods (8c, devan vishvan
Visvedevas

The Visvedevas are the various Rigvedic deities deva taken together as a whole. In the Rigveda a number of hymns are addressed to them, including ...
).

3.59.1 Mitra, when speaking, stirreth men to labour: Mitra sustaineth both the earth and heaven.
Mitra beholdeth men with eyes that close not. To Mitra bring, with holy oil, oblation. (trans. Griffith)


Rigvedic hymns to Mitra-Varuna are RV 1.136, 137, 151-153, RV 5.62-72, RV 6.67, RV 7.60-66, RV 8.25 and RV 10.132.

Where Mitra appears not paired with Varuna, it is often for the purpose of comparison, where other gods are lauded as being "like Mitra", without the hymn being addressed to Mitra himself (Indra
Indra

Indra is the god of War and Weather, also the King of the gods or Deva and Lord of Heaven or Swarga in Hinduism. Mentioned first as the chief deity in the sacred Hindu text of Rig Veda, Indra is bestowed with a heroic and almost brash and amorous character....
 1.129.10, 10.22.1-2 etc.; Agni
Agni

Agni is a Hindu and Rigvedic deities. The word agni is Sanskrit for "fire" , cognate with Latin ignis , Russian ????? , Polish "ogien," Lithuanian - ugnis - all with the meaning 'fire' -, with the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root being h1?gni-....
 1.38.13 etc.; Soma
Soma

Soma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the later Vedic civilization and Greater Iran cultures....
 1.91.3; Vishnu
Vishnu

Vishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of panchadeva, and his supreme status is declared in the Hindu sacred texts like Yajurveda, the Rigveda and the Bhagavad Gita....
 1.156.1).

In the Shatapatha Brahmana
Shatapatha Brahmana

The Shatapatha Brahmana is one of the prose texts describing the Historical Vedic religion ritual, associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It survives in two recensions, Madhyandina and Kanva , with the former having the eponymous 100 brahmanas in 14 books, and the latter 104 brahmanas in 17 books....
, Mitravaruna is analyzed as "the Counsel and the Power" — Mitra being the priesthood, Varuna the royal power. As Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell

Joseph John Campbell was an United States mythologist, writer, and lecturer best known for his work in the fields of comparative mythology and comparative religion....
 remarked, "Both are said to have a thousand eyes. Both are active foreground aspects of the light or solar force at play in time. Both renew the world by their deed."

Role in Daily Worship of the Hindus


Reflecting his status as a solar deity, Mitra has long been worshipped in the sunrise prayers of the Hindus. The morning upasthaana prayer, recited to the risen sun after contemplation on the sacred Gayatri
Gayatri

Gayatri is the feminine form of , a Sanskrit word for a song or a hymn.Originally the personification of the Gayatri mantra, revered by both Buddhists and Hindus worldwide, the goddess Gayatri is considered the veda mata, the mother of all Vedas and also the personification of the all-pervading Brahman, the ultimate unchangin...
 mantra
Mantra

A mantra can be defined as a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of creating transformation. Their use and type varies according to the school and philosophy associated with the mantra....
, is a collection of Rig Veda verses addressing Mitra.

Counterparts of Mitra in other religions

  • The Iranian counterpart to the Vedic Mitra was the Avesta
    Avesta

    The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language....
    n yazata
    Yazata

    Yazata is the Avestan language word for a Zoroastrianism concept. The word has a wide range of meaning but generally signifies a divinity. The term literally means "worthy of worship" or "worthy of veneration."...
     (angelic deity) Mithra
    Mithra

    Mithra is an important deity or divine concept in Zoroastrianism and later Iranian history and culture.Mithra is descended, together with the Historical Vedic religion deity Mitra , from a common proto-Indo-Iranian entity *mitra "treaty, bond"....
    .
  • In the Roman Empire
    Roman Empire

    The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
    , the name of Mithra was borrowed (as Mithras) in the popular cult of Mithraism
    Mithraism

    The Mithraic Mysteries or Mysteries of Mithras was a mystery cult which became popular among the military in the Roman Empire, from the 1st to 4th centuries AD....
    .


See also

  • Historical Vedic religion
    Historical Vedic religion

    The religion of the Vedic period is the historical predecessor of Hinduism. Its liturgy is reflected in the Mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit....
  • Varuna
    Varuna

    In Historical Vedic religion, Varuna or Waruna is a god of the sky, of waters and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld....