Kadrū

Kadrū was one of the thirteen wives of Kaśyapa Prajāpati and the mother of all the nāgas (serpents). She asked Kaśyapa for one thousand serpents of equal might as her vara (boon). She tricked her co-wife Vinatā in a bet about the colour of the divine horse Uccaiḥśravas. She won by deceit, and Vinatā became her slave for five hundred years. In anger she laid a śāpa (curse) on her own serpent sons, that they would die in the sarpa-yāga (serpent yajña) of Janamejaya. Brahmā agreed to this śāpa. So Kadrū is both the mother of the nāgas and the cause of their destruction. The Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 14–20, tells her story.

Kaśyapa’s wife and the boon

After the Samudramanthana (the churning of the ocean), Kaśyapa Prajāpati asked his two wives, Kadrū and Vinatā, to each choose a vara. Kadrū chose:

“One thousand serpents of equal might and glory, as my sons.”

Vinatā chose:

“Two sons mightier and more glorious than all of Kadrū’s thousand.”

Both varas were granted. Kadrū was given one thousand eggs, and Vinatā two eggs. The eggs were put in warm vessels. Five hundred years passed. Kadrū’s eggs hatched, and the thousand nāgas were born. They were mighty and many-hooded, and they came in many forms and colours.

The bet about Uccaiḥśravas

The divine horse Uccaiḥśravas rose from the Samudramanthana and was taken by Indra. One day Kadrū and Vinatā saw the horse and made a bet about the colour of its tail. Vinatā said the tail was white. Kadrū said it was black. The one who lost would become the slave of the winner.

Kadrū knew that the tail was white. To win by deceit, she told her serpent sons to turn themselves into black hairs and cover the tail of the horse. Many of the serpents refused. They were shocked by their mother’s order, for she asked them to take part in adharma, the deceit of a vow. They said plainly:

“This is falsehood. We will not do it.”

The śāpa on her own sons

Kadrū answered her sons’ refusal with a śāpa. A mother laid a śāpa on her own children because they would not join her deceit. She said:

“Since you refused to help me and have chosen righteousness over my command, you shall be burned in Janamejaya’s sarpa-yāga and perish.”

The devas who were gathered there were astonished. They brought the matter to Brahmā.

Brahmā agrees to the śāpa

The devas asked Brahmā to undo the śāpa. Brahmā agreed to it instead. He said that many of the serpents had become cruel and venomous, and that they caused pain to all living beings for no reason. As they were, their existence did harm. Let them die in the yāga. But the serpents of good character would live. He named Vāsuki, Śesha, Takshaka, Airāvata, Kārkoṭaka and others. Brahmā also said that a son born of the ṛshi Jaratkāru and Jaratkāru-nāgī, the sister of Vāsuki, would stop the yāga at the right time.

Winning the bet

Some of the serpents did as Kadrū had ordered. They made themselves into black hairs on the white tail of Uccaiḥśravas. The next day Kadrū and Vinatā went to see the horse, and the tail looked black. Kadrū had won the bet, and Vinatā became her slave.

Vinatā served Kadrū for five hundred years, until Garuḍa brought amṛta from svarga (heaven) and won the freedom of his mother.

What her acts set in motion

Three things began from Kadrū in the Ādi Parva. The slavery of Vinatā led to the search of Garuḍa for amṛta. The śāpa on the nāgas led to the sarpa-yāga. Brahmā’s plan, which names Āstīka as the one who stops it, was made known.

Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara, in his commentary, names Kadrū as kubuddhi (crooked intelligence) and Vinatā as subuddhi (right intelligence).

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 14–20
• Commentary of Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara on the Mahābhārata