The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c16.s2.17

v1.c16.s2.17

Apart from his connexion with Varuṇa we know little of Mitra: one hymn alone is given to him in the whole of the Rigveda,³ whence we learn that he brings men together by the utterance of his voice, and watches the tillers with unwinking eye. In one passage Savitṛ is identified with him, and Viṣṇu is said to take his three steps by the laws of Mitra, whence it may be assumed that he is supposed to regulate the course of the sun. The name is normally supposed to have been derived from the use of the word as friend, with which accords the fact that Mitra is essentially a kindly god, and in the Taittirīya Saṁhitā⁴ appears as promoting concord: Oldenberg⁵ has suggested that the use of the word arises rather from the name of the god whom he believes to have been invoked in compacts, perhaps with the use of a fetish of the god as part of the rite and the seven steps, which are mentioned in the Rigveda⁶ as a bond of friendship, and which in the marriage ritual are an essential part of the rite. The Iranian Mithra is obviously the same god, and, as his sun nature is almost absolutely certain, it is reasonable and natural to ascribe to the Vedic Mitra the same character. It is no objection to this view that the sun is described as the eye of Mitra: apart from the fact that the separation of the god from the natural substratum is perfectly natural, and can be seen in progress even in the Avesta where Mithra comes forth over the mountain of sunrise before the sun, it must be remembered that, in association with Varuṇa, Mitra can easily have obtained a description which strictly applied only to Varuṇa.