Mitra (Hindu god)

Onomastics

The Indo-Iranian common noun mitra means "(that which) causes to bind," yielding Sanskrit mitram, "covenant, contract, oath." Mitra's role in the Rigveda and the Mitanni treaty is the protection of such bonds. In post-Vedic India, the noun mitra came to mean "friend," and Mitra became the guardian of friendships. The feminine form appears as maitrin or mitrā in languages like Marathi or Hindi.

In the Vedas

In the Rigveda, Mitra is mostly indistinguishable from Varuna, together forming the dvandva pair Mitra-Varuna, which has essentially the same characteristics as Varuna alone. Varuna is the greater of the two and the second-greatest Rigvedic god after Indra. Hymns to Mitra-Varuna include RV 1.136, 137, 151–153, RV 5.62-72, RV 6.67, RV 7.60-66, RV 8.25, and RV 10.132. Mitra is addressed independently only in RV 3.59, where he has hardly any traits distinguishing him from Varuna, making his separate character somewhat indefinite.

One theory holds that the dvandvic union may represent an apotropaic application of "friend" to the otherwise frightening Varuna. Mitra-Varuna are conceived as young, wear glistening garments, are monarchs and guardians of the whole world, and their palace is golden with a thousand pillars and doors. They support heaven and earth, are lords of rivers and seas, and send rain. They wet pastures with dew of clarified butter, and their domain has honey-flowing streams.

They afflict the disregardful with disease, are asuras wielding secret knowledge, and their eye is the sun. They have undeceivable spies and are maintainers of order, punishing falsehood. They once emitted their semen into a pitcher at the sight of the nymph Urvashi, from which the sages Vashishtha and Agastya emerged.

In Post-Vedic texts

In post-Vedic scriptures such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas, Mitra's role is greatly diminished; he is described as a solar deity and an Aditya, son of Aditi and the sage Kashyapa. According to the Bhagavata Purana, his wife is Revati, and they have three sons: Utsarga, Arishtha, and Pippala. The pairing with Varuna persists, as in a yajna dedicated to them by Vaivasvata Manu. A rivalry appears when both Mitra and Varuna became enamored of the nymph Urvashi; Varuna emitted his seed into a sacred pitcher, and Mitra's seed also fell into it, leading to the birth of Vashishtha and Agastya. Other references include Mitra acting as milkman of the gods to milk the cow-form of the earth goddess Prithvi, his fight with Praheti in the Devasura war, and his worship by Yudhishthira and Akrura.

In living tradition

Mitra appears in the Atharvaveda tied to dawn, and Hindus honor him in their morning prayers. After meditating on the Gayatri mantra, the upasthaana prayer—a set of Vedic verses—is recited to the rising sun and addresses Mitra. He is also venerated alongside Surya during the Mitrotsavam festival, where Mitra and Mitra-Varuna help keep the sun god’s sky path orderly. In Bengal, worship occurs in Agrahayan month, starting on Kartik Sankranti.

The local name for the deity is Itu Thakur. Devotees, especially women, observe this as a Vrata. They fill a clay pot with soil, plant various seeds and roots, and tend it each Sunday. After a full month of worship, they submerge the pot in water before sunset on Agrahayan Sankranti.