Kadru and Vinata
Sage Kashyapa had two wives, Kadru
and Vinata. Kashyap being pleased with his wives wanted
to give them a boon to each. Kadru asked for a thousand sons who would
be Nagas (serpents), while Vinata asked for two very powerful
sons. Kashyapa granted them the boons and went to the forest to
practise ascetism. After five hundred years Kadru's eggs hatched and
her thousand serpent sons came out, all of great splendour, but nothing came out
of the two eggs of Vinata's. Vinata was anxious and zealous
and therefore she deliberately broke one egg. From it came out a son whose lower
part was still underdeveloped. Being angry with his mother for her impatience,
he cursed her saying that Vinata would serve as a slave for five
hundred years. Then he told his mother to nurture the other egg for another five
hundred years, because that would give birth to a son who would be uncomparable
in valour. The child then flew away. He was Aruna, the charioteer of
Sun.
One day, Kadru and Vinata were
roaming on the sea shore when they saw Ucchaisrava, the horse that was
obtained after churning of the ocean. Ucchaisrava was white as snow but from a
distance the tail was visible. So Kadru had an idea. She asked
Vinata as to what possible colour did she think the tail of
Ucchaisrava was. Vinata replied it to be white. Kadru
then threw a challenge saying that she was very sure that the tail was black in
colour. Vinata did not support this. Therefore Kadru made a wager, that the next
day morning they would come and see the horse's tail and whoever lost would
become a slave of the other for five hundred years. So bad was the relationship
between these two wives of Kashyapa that they instantly agreed without thinking
of the consequences. Vinata was confident that she was right. However Kadru had
a devious plan. That night she went home and told her sons, the serpents
everything. She told that even though she had wagered on the colour of the tail,
she knew that she would lose because Ucchaisrava, being a white horse, must be
having a white tail. Therefore it behoves the serpents to save their own mother
from the ignominy of accepting the slavery of their stepmother.
Some of the serpents, though cruel and wicked by
nature, did not agree to this proposal as they considered it inappropriate.
Kadru cursed these, saying that since they had disobeyed their mother,
they would burn themselves to death in the great serpent sacrifice of king
Janamejaya. Lord Brahma, the creator heard this curse and said
so be it, as the snakes had become very vicious and cruel and they were biting
other creatures to death. He felt that this would put an end to the wickedness
of the snakes.
The Nagas then decided
to obey Kadru and become the hairs in Ucchaisrava's tail with
the hope that she might take back her curse. The next morning Kadru and Vinata
together crossed the mighty ocean to see Ucchaisrava froma
close quarter. Since the snakes had already been hanging onto the tail as hairs,
from a suitable distance the tail seemed to be black in colour. Vinata
accepted defeat and became a salve of Kadru for five hundred years.
Thus the curse of Kadru was one of the causes of the destruction of the
Nagas in the Serpent Sacrifice.
How Ucchaisrava was obtained from the ocean can be known through the story of the churning of the ocean? This can be seen next.
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