Everything about Mitra totally explained
*mitra (
Proto-Indo-Iranian, nominative
*mitras) 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:
Etymology
Both
Vedic Mitra and
Avestan Mithra derive from an Indo-Iranian common noun
*mitra-, generally reconstructed to have meant "covenant, treaty, agreement, promise." This meaning is preserved in Avestan
miθra "covenant." In
Sanskrit and modern
Indo-Aryan languages, means "friend," one of the aspects of binding and alliance.
The Indo-Iranian reconstruction is attributed to Christian Bartholomae, and was subsequently refined by A. Meillet (1907), who suggested derivation from the Proto-Indo-European root
*mei "to exchange." Contradicting suggestions included
*meh "to measure" (Gray 1929).
Pokorny (
IEW 1959) refined Meillet's
*mei as "to bind." Combining the root
*mei with the "tool suffix"
-tra- "that which [causes] ..." (also found in
man-tra-, "that which causes to think"), then literally means "that which binds," and thus "covenant, treaty, agreement, promise, oath" etc. Pokorny's interpretation also supports "to fasten, strengthen", which may be found in Latin
moenia "city wall, fortification", and in an antonymic form, Old English
(ge)maere "border, boundary-post".
Meillet and Pokorny's "contract" did however have its detractors. Lentz (1964, 1970) refused to accept abstract "contract" for so exalted a divinity and preferred the more religious "peity." Because present-day Sanskrit
mitra means "friend," and New Persian
mihr means "love" or "friendship," Gonda (1972, 1973) insisted on a Vedic meaning of "friend, friendship," not "contract".
Meillet's analysis also "rectified earlier interpretations" that such an association was implied in the Younger Avesta (>6th c. BCE), that too was conclusively dismissed. Today, it's certain that "(al)though Miθra is closely associated with the sun in the
Avesta, he isn't the sun" and "Vedic Mitra isn't either." the genuine Old Persian form being
*Miça. (Kent initially suggested
Sanskrit but later attributes this false etymology to a role that Mithra (and the sun!) played in the now extinct branch of Zoroastrianism known as
Zurvanism.
Indic Mitra
Vedic Mitra is a prominent deity of the
Rigveda distinguished by a relationship to
Varuna, the protector of
rta. Together with Varuna, he counted among the
Adityas, a group of
solar deities, also in later Vedic texts. Vedic Mitra is the patron divinity of honesty, friendship, contracts and meetings.
The first extant record of Indo-Aryan Mitra, in the form
mi-it-ra-, is in the inscribed peace treaty of c.
1400 BC between
Hittites and the
Hurrian kingdom of the
Mitanni in the area southeast of
Lake Van in
Asia Minor. There Mitra appears together with four other Indo-Aryan divinities as witnesses and keepers of the pact.
Iranian Mithra
In
Zoroastrianism, Mithra is a member of the trinity of
ahuras, protectors of
asha/arta, "truth" or "[thatwhich is] right". Mithra's standard appellation is "of wide pastures" suggesting omnipresence. Mithra is "truth-speaking, ... with a thousand ears, ... with ten thousand eyes, high, with full knowledge, strong, sleepless, and ever awake." (
Yasht 10.7). As preserver of
covenants, Mithra is also protector and keeper of all aspects of interpersonal relationships, such as friendship and love.
Related to his position as protector of truth, Mithra is a judge (
ratu), ensuring that individuals who break promises or are not righteous (
artavan) are not admitted to
paradise. As also in Indo-Iranian tradition, Mithra is associated with (the divinity of) the sun but originally distinct from it. Mithra is closely associated with the feminine
yazata Aredvi Sura Anahita, the hypostasis of knowledge.
Graeco-Roman Mithras
The name Mithra was adopted by the Greeks and Romans as
Mithras, chief figure in the
mystery religion of
Mithraism. At first identified with the Sun-god
Helios by the Greeks, the
syncretic Mithra-Helios was transformed into the figure Mithras during the
2nd century BC, probably at
Pergamon. This new cult was taken to Rome around the
1st century BC and was dispersed throughout the
Roman Empire. Popular among the Roman military, Mithraism was spread as far north as
Hadrian's Wall and the
Germanic Limes.
Further Information
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