Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.1615

c7.1615

5) Kadrū curses her sons. Once Kadrū called Vinatā to her side and asked her the colour of Uccaiśravas, the horse of Indra. It was purely a white horse and Vinatā told so. But Kadrū said its tail was black. Each stood firm in her statement and then Kadrū made a bet. She who was defeated in the bet should serve the other as her slave. Vinatā agreed. Kadrū wanted to cheat Vinatā and so asked her sons to remain suspended from the tail of the horse in such an artful way that the tail would look black from a distance. Some of her sons refused to be a party to this deceit and Kadrū cursed them saying that they would all be burnt in the Sarpasattra of Janamejaya. Kaśyapa did not like the curse. But Brahmā there and said that the serpents as a class were injurious to society and as such a curse of that nature was necessary. Brahmā then taught him Viṣasamhāravidyā (Treatment of snake-poisoning). (Chapter 20, Ādi Parva, M.B.).