Kadru was a wife of sage Kashyap.
According to a story told at length in the Adiparva of the Mahabharat, Kadru gave birth to the race of serpents.
She was a very shrewd and wicked woman.
Once there was a controversy between Kadru and another wife of Kashyap, Vinata, over the colour of the tail of the celestial horse Uchchaihshrava.
Vinata insisted that the horse was white while Kadru maintained that it was black. It was then mutually agreed that the lady whose version proved untrue should serve the other as a handmaid for the rest of her life.
When Kadru came to know that the horse was really white in colour, she managed to hoodwink the guileless Vinata by asking her sons (the cobra race) to cover the tail of Uchchaihshrava by their own dark forms and thus lending it a dark hue.
Vinata was thus made to serve her co-wife for a number of years and suffered great persecution at her hands, till she was liberated by Garuda (Vinata's powerful son and the celebrated vehicle of Lord Vishnu).
According to a story told at length in the Adiparva of the Mahabharat, Kadru gave birth to the race of serpents.
She was a very shrewd and wicked woman.
Once there was a controversy between Kadru and another wife of Kashyap, Vinata, over the colour of the tail of the celestial horse Uchchaihshrava.
Vinata insisted that the horse was white while Kadru maintained that it was black. It was then mutually agreed that the lady whose version proved untrue should serve the other as a handmaid for the rest of her life.
When Kadru came to know that the horse was really white in colour, she managed to hoodwink the guileless Vinata by asking her sons (the cobra race) to cover the tail of Uchchaihshrava by their own dark forms and thus lending it a dark hue.
Vinata was thus made to serve her co-wife for a number of years and suffered great persecution at her hands, till she was liberated by Garuda (Vinata's powerful son and the celebrated vehicle of Lord Vishnu).