Kashyapa offered his wives boons. Kadru desired the boon that she might obtain a thousand powerful snakes as her sons. Vinata asked for the boon that she might obtain two sons who would be even more powerful than Kadru’s sons.

Kadru gave birth to a thousand eggs which hatched after five hundred years. Vinata gave birth to two eggs which showed no signs of hatching at all. In a fit of impatience, Vinata smashed one of the eggs. This untimely act gave birth to a deformed son, known as Aruna. Since his mother’s act had made him deformed, he cursed Vinata that she would have to be Kadru’s slave for five hundred years. But Aruna also assured his mother that the other egg, if allowed to hatch in time, would give birth to a son who would free his mother from the bondage that she would find herself in. Aruna then rose up into the sky and became the charioteer of the sun.

Uchchaishrava was Indra’s horse and Kadru and Vinata once had a bet about the colour of the horse’s tail.

“The tail is white,” said Vinata.

“Not at all,” retorted Kadru. “You are mistaken. The tail is black.”