The most ancient and principal national deity of the Armenian people was the deity of the sun and fire. As time progressed, however, this great deity was divided in two, just as it had occurred in the case of his consort, the goddess Inanna-Anahit. His nature of fire and his nature of the sun began to be represented separately and by different names. Thus, in Urartian times, his character of fire was represented by the name Haldi, and that of the sun by them Siwini.
In Armenia, after the fall of the Urartian dynasty, the name Mihr was given to this one great deity that embodied the powers of fire and the sun.
While utilizing the name Mihr for this great god, the Armenians have, nonetheless, pictured him, as in Urartian times, with a duality of nature, distinguishing between his characteristics of fire and the sun. This is why, in the epic of Davit of Sasun, the god of fire called Great Mher, whereas the sun-god is Mher Junior. This shows that among Armenians the fire-god was considered ancestral or had seniority and preeminence over the sun-god, just as Hayk, the fire-god, was ancestral to and greater than Ara, the son-god. Similarly, in Urartian/Araratian times, the fire-god Haldi was considered greater and more important than the sun-god Siwini.
Much before the Achaemenians, in the times of Mitanni, the name Mihr was already known to the people, particularly to those living in the regions of Mitanni or Armani-Subari (and later Arme-Subria) where Sasun is located.
The Great Mher represented Haldi is evidenced by the fact that he was called ‘the lion-like Mher’, reminding us of Haldi’s representations in Urartian/Arartian wall paintings where he is pictured on a lion. Furthermore, Mher’s wife was called Armaghan, a name which appears to be a distortion of Aruban(i), the name of Haldi’s wife.
It is known that the crow was a symbol of the sun and fire; “it’s feathers were black because they were charred by it.” Mher Junior had inherited Great Mher’s position; consequently, he had held, in his turn, the position of the great Urartian/Araratian gods or preserved in him their memory. “According to a tradition, Mher, disillusioned with the injustice in the world. Had cloistered himself in a cave called Agravak’ar (‘Crow’s Stone’) in Van.” On a cliff called Mheri Dur (‘Mher’s Gate’) in Van, there is a large inscription written by Ishpuini and Menua, which lists the names of all the Urartian/Araratian gods. All these show that at a time when it was even forgotten that these inscriptions represented actual writings, the Armenian tradition had preserved in Mher (particularly in the term Agravak’ar) the memory of the great Urartian/Araratian gods.
According to the legend, every year, at the feast of Ascention and the night of Vartavar (a water festival), when heaven and earth kiss each other, Mher comes out (from his cave) with a horse of fire, circles the heaven and the earth, and seeing that ‘the earth cannot yet support his weight’ returns to his seclusion. One day in the future, Mher shall come out from his hiding place to deliver ‘the Armenian world’ from wicked forces and to establish a happy kingdom.
Source:”Armenia,Summer and Subartu” by Prof.,Dr.Martiros Kavukjian
Sumbitted by Eduard Aratta who typed the text out of the book.
Painting by Vagan Garibyan
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