The Wager

Even as Garuḍa grew into a celestial being of unrivalled strength, he discovered that his mother was bound in servitude to Kadrū and her serpent sons. Bewildered and angry, he asked her why. With sorrow, Vinatā told him of the wager that had sealed her fate.

One day, as Kadrū and Vinatā walked together, they saw the celestial horse Uccaiḥshravas, a being of divine splendour who had risen from the churning of the Ocean of Milk. Kadrū, ever cunning, proposed a wager. She claimed that the horse's tail was black, while Vinatā, seeing its pure white form, disagreed. The terms were set: whoever was wrong would become the other's servant.

Unwilling to lose, Kadrū devised a trick. That night she called her serpent sons and ordered them to coil themselves around the horse's tail so that it would appear black. But not all of her sons were willing. Some of the Nāgas, seeing their mother's deceit, refused. Tricking their aunt into servitude, they said, was unjust, and their race should not be stained with dishonour.

Furious that her own children should question her, Kadrū cursed them: those who defied her would perish in the great Sarpa Satra, a fire sacrifice to be performed one day by a descendant of their own line. The Nāgas who had opposed her were filled with dread, for they knew their mother's curse would not be in vain. Those who remained loyal carried out her command. The next morning, when Vinatā saw the horse again, she was stunned: the once white tail now appeared black.

She had lost the wager and, as agreed, was bound in servitude, her fate entwined with that of her unborn son.