© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

Mitra

Mitra or Mithra was an important divinity of Indic (Sanskrit mitra) and Persian (Avestan miθra) culture. The first extant record of Mitra is in the inscribed peace treaty between Hittites and Mitanni, ca. 1400 BCE. There Mitra appears as one of five Vedic deities invoked as witnesses and keepers of the pact, with Varuna, Indra and the twin horsemen, the Nasatya (Campbell, 1964 p 256).

Vedic Mitra is referred to in the Rigveda onwards as one of the Adityas, a solar deity, and the patron divinity of honesty, friendship, contracts and meetings. The Vedic Mitra is distinguished by a relationship to the Varuna, the protector of rta, the life-force.

In Zoroastrianism, Mithra came into increased prominence as a major entity in the hierarchy of Angels as one of the protectors of human welfare. In later Persian culture Mithra merged with Meher, the protector of truth and justice, and as the source of cosmic light. The Mazdaist/Zoroastrian Mithra is a member of the trinity of ahuras, protectors of asha, the life-force.

Both the Vedic Mitra and the Persian Mithra are descended from a common Proto-Indo-Iranian deity whose name can be reconstructed as *Mitra.

In Graeco-Roman culture, Persian Mithra was adopted as Mithras. His cult, Mithraism, entered Europe after the conquests of Alexander the Great and spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire in later years. The Hellenic and Roman Mithras, worshipped by male initiates from the 1st century BCE to the 5th century ADE, combined the Persian Mithra with other Iranian and perhaps Anatolian deities in a syncretic cult.

Some assert that the mythology and lore surrounding Mitra or Mithra may have parallels to those surrounding Jesus and other aspects of Christianity. (See Mithraism's similarities to Christianity for a comparison).

Etymology and Origins

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 Persian. The word is from a root mi- "to bind", with the "tool suffix" -tra- (compare man-tra-), a contract is thus described as a "means of binding" (compare Ishara).

The earliest known occurrence of the name Mitra is in a treaty inscription, ca. 1400 BCE, established between the Hittites and the Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni in the area southeast of Lake Van. The treaty is guaranteed by five Indo-Iranian religious entities: Indra, Mitra, Varuna and the Nasatyas. The Hurrians, it appears, were led by an aristocratic warrior caste worshipping these.

Mitra in Vedic culture

In the Vedic hymns, Mitra is always invoked together with Varuna, so that the two are combined in a dvandva 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 Shatapatha Brahmana, Mitravaruna 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."

Mithra in the Persian world

In Zoroastrianism

The reform of Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) retained the multitudes of pre-Zoroastrian Mazdaist deities, reducing them in a complex hierarchy to "Immortals" and "Adored Ones" who, under the supremecy of the Creator Ahura Mazda, were now followers of either Spenta Mainyu (the positive emanation of Ahura Mazda) or Angra Mainyu (the negative emanation), as all of the cosmos was now part of Good or part of Evil.

Mithra is not present in the Gathas of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) but appears in the younger Yashts of the Avesta (Campbell p 257). There, Mithra comes to the fore among the created beings. "I created him" Ahura Mazda declares to Zoroaster, "to be as worthy of sacrifice and as worthy of prayer as myself" (Campbell, loc. cit.). In the Yashts, Mithra gains the title of "Judge of Souls" and is assigned the domain of human welfare (which He shares with the Creator). Mithra occupies an intermediate position in the Zoroastrian hierarchy as the greatest of the yazatas, the beings created by Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd in later Persian) to aid in the destruction of evil and the administration of the world. He is then the divine representative of the Creator on earth, and is directed to protect the righteous from the demonic forces of Angra Mainyu (Ahriman in later Persian).

In Persian culture

While in older Zoroastrianism Mithra is seen as a creation of Ahura Mazda, in later Persian culture, Mithra evolved to be an incarnation of Ahura Mazda, and in his role as 'Judge of Souls' as the rewarder of good and annihilator of the bad. Mithra was seen as omniscient, undeceivable, infallible, eternally watchful, and never-resting.

Similarly, while in the Avesta texts Mithra is also referred to as Dae-pa-Meher, or Creator of Meher, this separation between 'Meher' and the 'Creator of Meher' dissolves in later texts and the distinguishing characteristics of Mithra and Meher blend. Mithra, reincorporated as "Meher", thus also becomes the representative of truth and justice, and, by transfer to the physical realm, the divinity of air and light. As the enemy of darkness and evil spirits, he protected souls, a psychopomp accompanying them to paradise. As heat accompanying light, Mithra became associated with growth and resultant prosperity.

Mithra worship spread first with the empire of the Persians throughout Asia Minor, then throughout the empire of Alexander and his successors. In Mesopotamia, Mithra was to a degree identified with Shamash, god of the sun and justice.

By at least the 3rd century BCE, Mithra was identified as the progeny of Anahita, a mother-entity who is not mentioned in the Gathas of the very early Avesta texts, but is described in the fifth Yasht of the newer texts as "the wide-expanding and health-giving". The largest temple with a Mithraic connection is the Seleucid temple at Kangavar in western Iran (c. 200 BC), which is dedicated to "Anahita, the Immaculate Virgin Mother of the Lord Mithras".

The Parthian princes of Armenia were hereditary priests of Mithra, and an entire district of this land was dedicated to Anahita. Many temples were erected to Mithra in Armenia, which remained one of the last strongholds of the Mazdaist cult of Mithra until it became the first officially Christian kingdom.

Royal names incorporating Mithra's (e.g. "Mithradates") appear in the dynasties of Parthia, Armenia, and in Anatolia, in Pontus and Cappadocia.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oceania