|
In Hinduism, Mitra is one of the Adityas, a solar deity and the god of honesty, friendship, and
contracts.
Mitra can be identified with the Mithra of Persian Zoroastrianism. The worship of Mitra/Mithra spread
across the Iranian plateau and to the Indus Valley civilization.
The Hellenistic and Roman god Mithras "the Bull-Slayer", worshipped by initiated male
Mithraists from the 1st
century BC to the 5th century AD, is believed to be a combination of
Persian Mithra with other Persian and perhaps Anatolian deities. (In the Indian Vedic mythology, however, it is Indra, not Mitra, who slays the chthonic
bull.)
Origins
The earliest known occurrence of the name Mitra is in a treaty inscription, ca 1400 BC, established between the Hittites and the Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni in the area
southeast of Lake Van. The treaty is guaranteed by five Vedic gods: Indra, Mitra, Varuna and the twin horsemen, the
Ashvins or Nasatya. The Hurrians, it appears, were being led
by an aristocratic warrior caste worshipping these gods.
Mitra in the Vedas
In the Vedic hymns, Mitra is always invoked together with Varuna, so that the two are combined as 'Mitravaruna': Varuna is lord of the cosmic rhythm of the celestial
spheres, while Mitra brings forth the light at dawn, which was covered by Varuna. In the later Vedic ritual, a white victim is
prescribed for Mitra, a dark one for Varuna.
In the Shatapatha Brahmana, the paired One is
analyzed as "the Counsel and the Power" — Mitra being the priesthood, Varuna the royal power. As Joseph Campbell 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."
Reference
- Joseph Campbell, Occidental Mythology: The Masks of God (1964).
See also
|