The Case for Týr = Mitra: Part 2 of 4
He extrapolates this further by pointing out that there was a continuity in the Germanic culture between war and judicial proceedings. According to Dumezil, war was seen through a judicial lens, as a kind of trial before the gods, surrounded by legalistic framings and enactments. Thus Dumezil asks us to imagine the Germanic judicial and martial arenas as unified and reigned over in at least one dimensionality by a single god. Dumezil does clarify that Óðinn is the primary god of war in the other martial dimension, the magico-religious aspect of war. Furthermore, Dumezil points out that an assembly was known to be held at place named for Týr, Tislund in Zealand. While perhaps a vague and questionable piece of evidence, we should not simply discount the idea that a central place of assembly might bear the name of a god of assemblies.
Complicating this pillar of the argument, however, is the fact that the inscriptions to “Mars Thincsus” are so indeterminate. It is in fact not agreed upon whether Thincsus even refers to the Thing, and other possibilities have been brought forth. Nor is it known what aspect of Mars this Romanization is here drawing a connection to. One would assume it was his war aspect, but Mars has other well-known aspects, including an agricultural one. And many gods, not only the primary god of oaths, are known to have had oaths given to them. Indeed, each part of the Mars Thincsus case can be taken apart and questioned, as there simply isn't enough supporting material to bring it to an absolutely definitive conclusion one way or the other. Even so, most critics will also agree that nothing has truly disproven the identification of Mars Thincsus with Týr, nor has any alternative interpretation dislodged this identification as the most complete or most widely favored. Still, we simply can't say with certainty who Thincsus was.
While the Prose Edda tends not to be given as much weight as the Poetic Edda by scholars invested in the delineation of the primary myths, being a retelling of the primary poetic myths at a later date, it cannot be said that there is no reference to Týr as a martial god in a general sense, at least in this younger, prose Edda. In the Gylfaginning of the Prose Edda Snorri affirms that Týr is
most daring, and best in stoutness of heart, and has much authority over victory in battle; it is good for men of valor to invoke him. It is a proverb that he is Týr-valiant, who surpasses other men and does not waver. He is wise, so that it is also said, that he that is wisest is Týr-Prudent. (Prose Edda, Gylfaginning)
For whatever reason, Snorri believed that Týr had not little, but “much” authority over victory in battle, that valiant warriors indeed invoked him, and that it was seen as good and proper for them to do so. Clearly, Snorri viewed Týr as some sort of significant war-related god, for it is not an insignificant god or a god unrelated to the martial that will have any authority over battle victory, let alone “much” authority over it. Furthermore, the other attributes of Týr here mentioned paint a complex picture of the god, one which begins to be reminiscent of the complex and sometimes paradoxical character of Yudhishthira-Mitra. Not only is Týr said to be daring and an authority in battle victory, but he is also wise and prudent, the traits of a good Brahmin (who themselves oversaw judicial proceedings, requiring prudence and wisdom in that sphere as well), just as Yudhishthira balances his wise and prudent character with the decisive actions in battle that bring the war to a close, such as the killing of the general Shalya with his legendary spear (which itself parallels again Lugh's bringing the war to a close by killing Balor with his sling or spear). Týr's characteristic of not wavering is also not in the least insignificant, as Yudhishthira is known specifically as one who is able to stay so calm and unwavering that only he is capable of facing Shalya in battle. Yudhishthira's very name means "firm/stable in battle" (from युध् - (yudh), meaning “1. to fight, battle” and थिर - (sthir) stable, steady,"), while Menelaus' means "the steadfastness (of the people) in battle" (from Μένω - (ménō), meaning “I stay, wait (in battle)” (with the sub-variations “1. I stand fast”), and lāós, meaning“people”). For a war god, prudence is not the first trait that comes to mind, hence it would be fairly coincidental for Týr and Yudhishthira each to have this same rare signature combination of characteristics. While the equations of names in the days of the week themselves should be questioned, it is not without significance that Týr was identified with Mars in the Germanization of the Roman weekdays. Martis became Tiwesdæg (Tuesday) in the Anglo-Saxon world, for example, suggesting that the people of the time indeed saw some important similarity between Mars and Týr/Tiw which they chose to enshrine in their calendar. Even the modern Dutch and German names for Tuesday reflect the day’s enduring association with the Thing, called Dinsdag in Dutch and Dienstag in German, meaning either “Day of Thingsus” or “Day of the Thing.”
From our own comparative researches into the Indo-European epic tradition and mythologies we can add certain other supports for the general case of Týr = Mitra. First of all, one of the central myths that one discovers when looking at the various branches of the Indo-European epics, specifically the Celtic, the Greek, and the Vedic, is the fact that the “Mitra” or "Lawful Sovereign" figure is always made a cuckold, and this usually motivates an important revenge plot and sometimes the Great War itself. This theme is seen most clearly in the figure of Greek Menelaus. In the central plot line of the Iliad, Menelaus is cuckolded by Paris, who steals Helen away and takes her to Troy. Menelaus then must duel Paris, and finally concludes, after being wounded in the abdomen and healed, by killing Helen's second foreign husband, Deiphobus, after Philoctetes finishes Paris off. In the Welsh myth the Greek plot is paralleled most closely, with Lleu cuckolded by Gronw Pebr, who plots with Lleu’s wife Blodeuwedd to kill Lleu. Lleu receives a mortal wound in the abdomen and then, after being healed, concludes by killing Gronw. Irish Lugh is cuckolded by Cermait with his wife Buach, and then hunts Cermait down and kills him. In revenge, Cermait's sons seek out Lugh and kill him. The Vedic version is less of a clear cuckolding, yet Yudhishthira clearly does lose his wife to set off the war, in close parallel to Menelaus. Specifically, Yudhishthira gambles away his wife Draupadi during his dice match with Yudhishthira, in which he also loses his kingdom. As a result Draupadi becomes the slave of Duryodhana. However, after she endures a lengthy humiliation and series of insults at court, king Dritharashtra, father of Duryodhana, finally allows Draupadi to go free and return to Yudhishthira and the other Pandavas. Thus the loss of the Lawful Sovereign's wife, and its role as one of the chief inciting actions for the war that follows, remains intact in the Indian epic; however, though the Kauravas attempt unsuccessfully to disrobe Draupadi, she never is shown to commit adultery.
Now, it must be said that the consistency we find in the other branches of the Mitraic figure or Lawful Sovereign being cuckolded suggests that the Indian version may simply have been cleaned up, presented in a more conservative fashion by removing the actual adultery, or that the Indian poets simply had developed too much respect for this god or this goddess to depict him as cuckolded by her. In any case, it is by no means a stretch to see Yudhishthira losing Draupadi into slavery as carrying the same meaning as the cuckolding of the other gods of his archetype. What this brings us to is the fact that Týr too is significantly singled out by Loki as having been cuckolded, and cuckolded by Loki himself. “Shut up, Týr, my son came from your wife. And you haven't been paid a penny or an ell of cloth as recompense for this, you rat," Loki says in Lokasenna. It must be pointed out here that Duryodhana, who wins Draupadi from Yudhishthira in the dice game, is said to be the incarnation of the Demon of the Last Age, also known as Kali. He is the driving demonic force which opposes the heroes of society in the Kurukshetra War. Likewise, Dumezil points out that Loki, in several places, including the scene of the death of Baldr, fills this “Kali” role in the Norse mythos (Gods of the Ancient Northmen). Further, Duryodhana's close partner in war, the incarnation of the sun god, Karna, mocks Draupadi after she has been lost in the dice game, and specifically calls her “unchaste,” just as Loki mocks and accuses Freyja for promiscuity. We have shown how in other branches this Demon of the Last age and Sun God are often blended together, elements switched around between them, or are even combined into one figure. In the Greek and Celtic branches, it is typically a Sun God who cuckolds the Lawful Sovereign, while in the Indian epic it is the closely associated Demon who wins her and the Demon and Sun God who together insult and humiliate her. Thus, Loki mocking Freyja and Týr, the one for being promiscuous and the other for being cuckolded, actually matches extremely well the words of Duryodhana and Karna of the Mahabharata. Indeed, it may even be possible to understand Loki's cryptic claim that “you haven't been paid a penny or an ell of cloth as recompense” if read in this light. Yudhishthira literally loses Draupadi for nothing, and is payed nothing in recompense, as Draupadi becomes Duryodhana's slave. Karna rubs this point in by telling Draupadi to choose another husband from the servants' quarters as they will not gamble her away as Yudhishthira has done. This barb is not far off from Loki's, as both seek to cruelly drive in the point of how foolishly and completely the Mitraic figure has lost his wife outright and with nothing in return.
Freyja's mockery by Loki as promiscuous, and the possibility that she occupies the same central position that Draupadi does, combined with the facts of Freyja’s husband “Óðr” being a mysterious figure and Týr's adulterous wife being left unspecified, opens up a possibility of seeing Freyja and Týr as spouses, a possibility lacking other concrete supports indeed, but too tantalizing not to commit to a close examination. Of course, Menelaus and Lleu are both said to be traveling to their maternal grandfather’s when their wives have their adulterous affairs, while Freyja’s husband is said always to be traveling, leaving her to weep for his absence. The closeness of the names Óðr and Óðinn would then reflect the close connection of the Mitra and Varuna gods, showing onomastically their character of being like two sides of a coin. After all, the Satapatha Brahmana delineates the contrast between Mitra and Varuna in this way: “Mitra and Varuna, forsooth, are... intelligence and will” (Satapatha Brahmana, IV.1.4). One of the meanings of Óðr, besides “frenzied,” is “mind” (as a noun in Old Norse this is indeed its first definition, a fact badly ignored in relation to this question, and it can be seen with the meaning of soul or mind in Voluspa 18.1) just as Mitra is called the "intelligence" and Týr is a by-name for the prudently wise. And this association of Mitra with the mind appears repeatedly throughout the Vedic texts. In the “frenzied” or “raging” sense, Týr does not show much in his extant myths, but the Mitraic Lugh certainly does, as does Yudhisthira when he is excited with wrath. The Iranic Mithra too has a raging side, the Avesta saying “Oh! may we never fall across the rush of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, when in anger!” (Avesta, Mihr Yasht, 135). Týr is after all a war god. Still, it may be that Óðr signified “mind” more than “frenzy” in the Norse context, though we can't say for certain. Alternately, Óðr could of course simply be an aspect of Óðinn marking his absorption of this particular adultery myth as Óðinn came to be centralized to a greater degree over time (as always, we can propose the reverse as well, that Óðinn could instead have had this myth originally, it only being taken by the Mitraic god in the other branches). Yet there cannot be said to be much more in favor of this common hypothesis than what has been laid out in this paragraph connecting Týr and Óðr: Týr's mysterious adulterous wife for whom he was not recompensed and his mockery over this fact; the definition of Óðr as "mind" and its connection to Týr's wisdom (as well as to his possible war rage) and to Mitra as "intellect"; the general parallels in other branches. Besides a daughter with Freyja, Hnoss (and in one source her sister Gersemi), no other children of Óðr are mentioned in the sources (Menelaus, too, only has a daughter and no sons with Helen, and another Mitraic avatar, Numa Pompilius, is said by some authors to have only sired a single daughter), leading scholar Rudolf Simek to ask: if Óðr and Óðinn are identical, "why, for example, should Baldr not be mentioned?"
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