[Mehrbod]

Mitra
Aka: Mithra, Mehr, Myhr
Avestan: Miθpa

Mithra is the Zoroastrian divinity (yazata) of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters. The most important of the Yazatas outside the Amesha Spentas, Mithra gained the title “The Unconquered Sun”, not
for being Ahura Mazda’s son, but for recovering the Sun Chariot that carries the Sun, slaying the Divine Bull before it reached heaven and thus creating all live on the World from his blood, among other things.

While Mithra is not the divinity of the Sun in Zoroastrian scripture (or in Indian scripture either), this being the role of Hvare. khshaeta (literally "radiant Sun", whence also Middle Persian Khorshed for the Sun), in Zoroastrian/Iranian tradition, Mithra became the divinity of the Sun. How, when or why this occurred is uncertain, but is commonly attributed to a conflation with Babylonian Shamash, who – in addition to being a Sun god – was a judicial figure like Mithra. In the Hellenistic era (i.e., in Seleucid and Parthian times), Mithra also seems to have been conflated with Apollo, who – like Mithra – was an all-seeing divinity of the truth.

Mithra always presents himself on the world as a person with a high sense of justice, always on the alert and quite perceptive. Notably he was a famous police man, a security man, a fighter for world peace, a watcher of the streets. Even as a man, he seems a hero. Great things and achievements are expected from the Scions of Mithra and they commonly live to them. They fight to keep peace and justice on the worlds and their connections. All life on those worlds is just as important as the worlds themselves.

Together with Rashnu "Justice" and Sraosha "Obedience", Mithra is one of the three judges at the Chinvat bridge, the "bridge of separation" that all souls must cross. Unlike Sraosha, Mithra is not however a psychopomp. Should the good thoughts, words and deeds outweigh the bad, Sraosha alone conveys the soul across the bridge.

In the Zoroastrian calendar, the sixteenth day of the month and the seventh month of the year are dedicated to, and under the protection of, Mithra. The position of the sixteenth day and seventh month reflects the Mithra's rank in the hierarchy of the divinities; the sixteenth day and seventh month are respectively the first day of the second half of the month and the first month of the second half of the year. The day on which the day-name and month-name dedications intersect is (like all other such intersections) dedicated to the divinity of that day/month, and is celebrated with a Jashan (from Avestan Yasna, "worship") in honor of that divinity. In the case of Mithra this was Jashan-e Mihragan, or just Mihragan in short.