Mitra

deity sky Indo-Iranian single tradition · 21

Mitra is the name of an Indo-Iranian divinity that emerged from the Rigvedic Mitrá and Avestan Mithra. This Proto-Indo-Iranian deity's name and characteristics subsequently influenced numerous other religious figures across different cultures and time periods.

↻ synthesized from 21 sources

When

First attested
1500 BCE
Attested period
-1500 – 2020
Historical notes
Proto-Indo-Iranian divinity attested in Rigvedic and Avestan traditions, influencing later religious figures across multiple cultures.

Relationships

manifests as
Mithra, Sūrya
consort of
Urvaśī, Varuna
allied with
Sūrya, Aryaman, Varuna
aspect of
Adityas
syncretized with
Shamash, Savitar, Perun
has aspect
Mithra
child of
Aditi

Expand to full subgraph →

Sources

Source passages

“Vedic Mitra is a prominent deity of the Rigveda distinguished by a relationship to Varuna, the protector of rta...patron divinity of honesty, friendship, contracts and meetings...first extant record of Indo-Aryan Mitra...c. 1400 BC”

#3883 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

“In the Rigveda, the gods Varuna and Mitra once perform a yajna (fire-sacrifice), when Urvashi arrives in front of them. As a result of her infidelity, Mitra curses Urvashi to become the wife of a mortal man.”

#8138 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

“This Varuṇa, the leader of the rite, and the royal Mitra and Aryaman, uphold my acts, and the divine unopposed Aditi, earnestly invoked: may they convey us safe beyond evil.”

#13702 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“Either it is the relationship Perun – Veles as the type Mitra – Varuna, that is, opposition within the internal polarity of the I. function. This possibility basically corresponds to the vegetational interpretation of Golema (alternation of human and non-human in nature), otherwise this possibility was thought through the most especially by A. Gieysztor, who sees in Perun a Mitra-like figure.”

#14777 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“Mitra, rules over Anuradha nakshatra they are the peacekeepers of this world.”

#15509 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001