MITRA — FRIENDSHIP DEIFIED

There exists in the Vedic pantheon a god whose name has become, over the centuries, one of the most universally recognized words in the Indo-European languages. In Sanskrit: Mitra. In Old Persian: Mithra. The Latin amicus shares the same root. In French: ami. In English: friend comes from an analogous Indo-European kinship.

For the name of Mitra comes from a Sanskrit root meaning simply: the friend, the ally, the one who unites. And in the Rig Veda, Mitra is precisely that — friendship deified, the principle of alliance transformed into a cosmic force, the cohesion of peoples elevated to the rank of divinity.

The one hymn dedicated to Mitra alone

In the entire Rig Veda, there is only one hymn entirely devoted to Mitra alone — without Varuṇa at his side: hymn 3.59, composed by the rishi Viśvāmitra himself. And immediately, the first verse says the essential of what Mitra is:

3.59.1 — Mitra sets Men in motion, saying it, Mitra sustains the Earth and the Sky. Mitra watches over the peoples. Make an offering of clarified butter to Mitra.

Three functions in a single verse. Mitra sets men in motion — he mobilizes them, unites them in a shared movement. Mitra sustains the Earth and the Sky — his action extends to the totality of the cosmos. And Mitra watches over the peoples — in the plural, over all human communities, not only over one particular group.

3.59.2 — But the mortal who makes offerings to you, may he be capable of respecting your law, O Mitra. May he be in the forefront, O Ādityas. The one protected by you is never defeated and harmed. Anguish does not reach him near or far.

The protection of Mitra is total — physical and spiritual. And it is granted to the one who « respects his law » — that is, the one who honours bonds, keeps commitments, maintains trust in relationships with others.

3.59.4 — This Mitra is born, venerable and very favourable, like a king of great power, very devoted. May we be in the auspicious favour of the one worthy of veneration in good spirit.

3.59.6 — The favour of Mitra, the god who preserves the peoples, brings Riches, gives the splendour of the most excellent glory.

3.59.8 — To Mitra, the five kinds of men submit, for he has a powerful help. He sustains all the gods.

« The five kinds of men » — in the Vedic classification, the five great families of peoples. Mitra is not the god of a clan or a tribe. He is the force that reconciles, unites, holds together what might otherwise scatter.

Mitra always at Varuṇa’s side

In almost the entire Rig Veda, Mitra appears alongside Varuṇa. They form one of the most constant dyads of the text — dozens of hymns are jointly devoted to them in mandalas 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Why this systematic association? Because Mitra and Varuṇa are the two complementary faces of the same principle: Truth lived in relationship.

Varuṇa is deep inner Truth — the knowledge that arises in the experience of soma, the awareness of the real as it is, without veil. He is the principle of justice that sees everything, knows all intentions, forgives or punishes according to cosmic law.

Mitra is Truth exteriorized in the bond — trust, alliance, fidelity to commitments made. If Varuṇa sees Truth within, Mitra manifests it in the relationship with the other.

Hymn 5.65 unites them in a luminous formulation:

5.65.2 — Yes, these two are the most renowned kings, with the most beautiful energy. They are the powerful lords who make grow through truth, who make truth possessed in each man.

« Who make truth possessed in each man » — Mitra and Varuṇa are not external guardians of truth. They are the forces that allow every human being to carry it within and live it in their relationships.

5.65.4 — Mitra, then, goes toward a vast dwelling far from anguish, since Mitra’s favour goes to the one who worships him with a good spirit.

5.65.6 — You two, O Mitra, you encourage this people and guide them. Do not neglect the generous or the rishis. Save us with a drop of milk.

And in hymn 5.72 — brief, crystalline, in Uṣṇik metre:

5.72.2 — By the law, you give houses that last, in peace, you reconcile men. Sit on the Kusha grass to drink the soma.

« You reconcile men » — three words that summarize everything Mitra is. The principle of reconciliation, the force that remakes bonds where mistrust or conflict had broken them.

Mitra among the Ādityas

Mitra is one of the sons of Aditi — the goddess of infinity, mother of all the Ādityas. In this group, he occupies a central place alongside Aryaman and Varuṇa, forming the core of the trilogy of Truth.

Aryaman is nobility of action — the way of conducting oneself with uprightness in the world. Varuṇa is the deep knowledge of Truth. Mitra is the bond — the force that unites these two dimensions in the concrete relationship between beings.

5.67.3 — Because all — Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman — have all knowledge, they follow the law like tracks. They protect the wounded mortal.

5.67.4 — For they are true, touching truth, following truth, in each man. They are good guides who give good gifts, who give good assistance against anguish.

What Mitra says to our time

In the civilization of the 7 Rivers, Mitra was not an abstract concept. He was the concrete force that made possible long-distance trade between peoples of different cultures, alliances between clans, marriages between families, caravanserais open to strangers.

A civilization without an army, without a palace, without a centralized state can hold together only if it has something else to maintain cohesion — a bonding force that transcends immediate kinship and coercion. That force is Mitra. The trust accorded to the unknown because shared commitments are honoured. The alliance maintained even when no one is watching. The bond preserved through time because it is worth more than the immediate gain one might make by breaking it.

Our contemporary societies have produced an abundance of legal contracts, insurance systems and surveillance mechanisms — all that one mobilizes when trust has run out. This is the absence of Mitra institutionalized as law.

Mitra is not nostalgia. It is a diagnosis.