Kadru

In Hindu mythology, the daughter of the
divine sage Daksha and sister of Vinata.
Kadru gives birth to a line of serpents,
whereas her sister’s children are born as
eagles, the most famous of whom is
Garuda. The well-known hostility
between these species is attributed to a
conflict between Vinata and Kadru: one
day they are arguing about the tail color
of a certain celestial horse, with Vinata
arguing that it is white and Kadru asserting that it is black. The disagreement
becomes more intense until they finally
agree that whoever is wrong will become
a slave to the other. To ensure her victory, Kadru persuades a number of her
snake children to hang from
the back of the horse. From a distance
the tail appears to be black. (Some of
her children disapprove of such dishonesty and refuse to participate. In revenge
Kadru curses them to die in the snakekilling sacrifice performed by King
Janamjeya.) When Vinata sees the black
snakes, she believes she has been
defeated and serves Kadru under
extremely harsh conditions for many
years. Vinata is finally rescued by her
son Garuda, who discovers the fraud
behind Vinata’s defeat and embarks on
a program of killing snakes that has
never stopped.