Kadru

Kadru (Sanskrit: कद्रू, lit. 'tawny', IAST: Kadrū)^[1] is usually regarded as the daughter of Daksha and the consort of the sage Kashyapa in Hindu scriptures.^[2] Kashyapa is the son of Marichi, who is a manasaputra, a mind-born son of Brahma. Kadru is best known as the mother of the nagas, the race of serpents.

Legends of Kadru detail her relationship with her elder sister Vinata, who was also one of Kashyapa's many wives. In one story, Kadru and Vinata vie to bear the children of Kashyapa who are more powerful than the other. While Kadru gives birth to a thousand nagas, Vinata bears two sons, Aruṇa and Garuda. Kadru is also portrayed as more scheming and wily than Vinata. She challenges Vinata to guess the colour of the tail of Uchchaihshravas, the divine white horse. After Vinata says the tail is white, Kadru tricks Vinata by directing her sons to coil around the horse's tail, causing it to appear black. As a result, Vinata loses the bet and she and her sons are forced to become the slaves of Kadru and her sons. Another legend states that when Kadru asks Garuda to take her sons on his back to the abode of the sun so that they can pay obeisance, they are scorched. Vinata asks Garuda to carry the water of the Ganga from the netherworld and sprinkle it on the nagas to revive them.

In another tale, Kadru and Suparna, another of Kashyapa's wives, disobey Kashyapa and disrupt some sages who are performing rites on the banks of the Ganga. As a result, they are turned into rivers. Kashyapa is only able to restore them to their original forms by performing a penance to Shiva.