Side by side, from the sources
Varuna vs Mithra
These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Paired in the Rigveda as the guarantors of rita; Mitra is the contract and Varuna the oath.
Deity · Vedic · c. 1400 BCE
Varuna
also called Baruna
Binder of the oath-breaker with his noose. The earliest hymns call him *asura*, using the word as an honorific, long before it turned demonic.
- Alignment
- Disputed
- Rank
- Keeper of Cosmic Order
- First attested
- Rigveda · c. 1500-1200 BCE
- Named there as
- Varuna
- Texts naming it
- 3
- Powers attributed
- 4
90attestedVedic & Hindu
Deity · Persian · c. 1000 BCE
Mithra
also called Mithras, Mitra, Mithras Petrogenes, Mithras Petrogene, Mithras Rockborn, Mithras Rock-Born
God of the binding contract, worshipped from India to Roman Britain. No other deity in this compendium can be traced across three civilisations so cleanly.
- Alignment
- Disputed
- Rank
- Lord of Covenant
- First attested
- Rigveda · c. 1500-1200 BCE
- Named there as
- Mitra
- Texts naming it
- 3
- Powers attributed
- 4
Where do they actually overlap?
Texts naming both
Powers credited to both
Common questions
Are Varuna and Mithra the same figure?
These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Paired in the Rigveda as the guarantors of rita; Mitra is the contract and Varuna the oath. ColossiansOne records the link rather than asserting the identity: where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is what gets shown.
Which is older, Varuna or Mithra?
Varuna is the older name: first attested around c. 1400 BCE, against c. 1000 BCE for Mithra. Where the two dates are far apart, that gap is the whole reason the pair is worth comparing.
Do any texts name both Varuna and Mithra?
Yes — 1 text names both. A single text naming both figures is the strongest evidence available here that its author treated them as distinct, whatever later writers did with the pair.