Kadru, Kadrū: 18 definitions

Introduction
In Hinduism
Languages
1. Marathi
2. Sanskrit
3. Kannada
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Introduction:

Kadru means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit, Marathi. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

In Hinduism

Kavya (poetry)

Source: Wisdom Library: Kathāsaritsāgara

1) Kadrū (कद्रू).—One of the two wives of Kaśyapa, according to a story called “the dispute about the colour of the sun’s horses” in the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 22. Accordingly, “Long ago Kadrū and Vinatā, the two wives of Kaśyapa, had a dispute in the course of a conversation which they were carrying on. The former said that the Sun’s horses were black, the latter that they were white, and they made an agreement that the one that was wrong should become a slave to the other”.

2) Kadrū (कद्रू) is also mentioned as the mother of the Nāgas (nāgamātā) according to the sixteenth story of the Vetālapañcaviṃśati in the Kathāsaritsāgara, chapter 90. Accordingly, as Mitrāvasu said to Jīmūtavāhana: “... long, long ago, Kadrū, the mother of the snakes, conquered Vinatā, the mother of Garuḍa, in a treacherous wager, and made her a slave. Through enmity caused thereby, the mighty Garuḍa, though he had delivered his mother, began to eat the snakes of the sons of Kadrū”.

The Kathāsaritsāgara (‘ocean of streams of story’), mentioning Kadrū, is a famous Sanskrit epic story revolving around prince Naravāhanadatta and his quest to become the emperor of the vidyādharas (celestial beings). The work is said to have been an adaptation of Guṇāḍhya’s Bṛhatkathā consisting of 100,000 verses, which in turn is part of a larger work containing 700,000 verses.

context information

Kavya (काव्य, kavya) refers to Sanskrit poetry, a popular ancient Indian tradition of literature. There have been many Sanskrit poets over the ages, hailing from ancient India and beyond. This topic includes mahakavya, or ‘epic poetry’ and natya, or ‘dramatic poetry’.

Purana and Itihasa (epic history)

Source: archive.org: Puranic Encyclopedia

Kadrū (कद्रू).—Wife of Kaśyapa and daughter of Dakṣaprajāpati. Genealogy. Descended from Viṣṇu thus:—Viṣṇu—Brahmā—Dakṣa—Kadrū. (See full article at Story of Kadrū from the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani)

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: The Purana Index

Kadrū (कद्रू).—A daughter of Dakṣa, wife of Tārkṣyā, and mother of Nāgas, including Kāliya:¹ according to bṛahmāṇḍa vi., vā., and mastya p. Consort of Kāśyapa;² known for anger.³

1) Bhāgavata-purāṇa V. 24. 8; VI. 6. 21-2; X. 17. 4, 73.
2) Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa III. 3. 57; 7. 31, 467; Matsya-purāṇa 6. 2 & 38; 146. 19 & 22; 171. 29 & 63; Vāyu-purāṇa 66. 55; Viṣṇu-purāṇa I. 15. 125.
3) Vāyu-purāṇa 69. 94.

Source: Archaeological Survey of India: Śaiva monuments at Paṭṭadakal (purāṇa)

Kadru (कद्रु) and Vinatā, daughters of Dakṣa Prajāpati, are married to sage Kaśyapa. Once, Kaśyapa tells them to ask for a boon. Kadru asks for a thousand sons in the form of nāga, snakes, having equal extraordinary force. Vinatā asks for only two children whose parākrama “prowess” should be equal to that of the thousand snakes of Kadru. Kadru did not appreciate it.

Source: JatLand: List of Mahabharata people and places

Kadrū (कद्रू) refers to the name of a Lady mentioned in the Mahābhārata (cf. I.59.13, I.65, I.60.66). Note: The Mahābhārata (mentioning Kadrū) is a Sanskrit epic poem consisting of 100,000 ślokas (metrical verses) and is over 2000 years old.

context information

The Purana (पुराण, purāṇas) refers to Sanskrit literature preserving ancient India’s vast cultural history, including historical legends, religious ceremonies, various arts and sciences. The eighteen mahapuranas total over 400,000 shlokas (metrical couplets) and date to at least several centuries BCE.

Ayurveda (science of life)

Source: Shodhganga: Edition translation and critical study of yogasarasamgraha

Kadru (कद्रु) is another name for “Palāśa” and is dealt with in the 15th-century Yogasārasaṅgraha (Yogasara-saṅgraha) by Vāsudeva: an unpublished Keralite work representing an Ayurvedic compendium of medicinal recipes. The Yogasārasaṃgraha [mentioning kadru] deals with entire recipes in the route of administration, and thus deals with the knowledge of pharmacy (bhaiṣajya-kalpanā) which is a branch of pharmacology (dravyaguṇa).

context information

Āyurveda (आयुर्वेद, ayurveda) is a branch of Indian science dealing with medicine, herbalism, taxology, anatomy, surgery, alchemy and related topics. Traditional practice of Āyurveda in ancient India dates back to at least the first millenium BC. Literature is commonly written in Sanskrit using various poetic metres.

General definition (in Hinduism)

Source: Apam Napat: Indian Mythology

Kadru was a daughter of Daksha, who married the sage Kashyapa and gave birth to the Nagas (snake). Once, her sons had displeased her by refusing to do her bidding, so she cursed them to die by ordeal of fire. It is mentioned in the Mahabharata that there is a counter measure available for all curses, except those uttered by one's mother. Accordingly, when the great anti-snake sacrifice was performed by Janamejaya, to avenge the snake-bit death of his father Parikshit, nearly all the snakes perished in the sacrificial fire. Only Takshaka, their king and a few other snakes were spared at the end to continue the line of Nagas.

Languages of India and abroad

Marathi-English dictionary

Source: DDSA: The Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionary

kadrū (कद्रू).—a (kadarya S) Avaricious or covetous.

Source: DDSA: The Aryabhusan school dictionary, Marathi-English

kadrū (कद्रू).—a A varicious or covetous.

context information

Marathi is an Indo-European language having over 70 million native speakers people in (predominantly) Maharashtra India. Marathi, like many other Indo-Aryan languages, evolved from early forms of Prakrit, which itself is a subset of Sanskrit, one of the most ancient languages of the world.

Sanskrit dictionary

Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary

Kadru (कद्रु).—a. [kad-ru] (-dru or -drū f.)

1) Tawny.

2) Variegated, spotted.

-druḥ 1 The tawny colour.

2) The variegated colour.

-druḥ, -drūḥ f. Wife of Kaśyapa and the mother of the Nāgas.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Kadru (कद्रु).—mfn. (-druḥ-druḥ-drūḥ-dru) Tawny. f.

(-drūḥ) The wife of Casyapa the saint, and mother of the Nagas or the serpent race, inhabiting the regions below the earth. m.

(-druḥ) Tawny, (the colour.) E. kam to desire, ḍu affix, and ra inserted; the final of the radical is irregularly changed to da; fem. affix ūñ.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Kadrū (कद्रू).—f. The wife of Kaśyapa and mother of the serpent race, Mahābhārata 1, 1074.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Kadru (कद्रु).—[adjective] tawny, reddish-brown. [feminine] kadrū a cert. Soma-vessel; [Name] of the mythol mother of serpents (also kadru).

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1) Kadru (कद्रु):—mfn. ([etymology] doubtful; [from] √kav [commentator or commentary] on [Uṇādi-sūtra iv, 102]) tawny, brown, reddish-brown, [Taittirīya-saṃhitā; Kātyāyana-śrauta-sūtra] etc.

2) m. tawny (the colour), [Horace H. Wilson]

3) f (us, ūs). a brown Soma-vessel, [Ṛg-veda viii, 45, 26]

4) Name of a daughter of Dakṣa (wife of Kaśyapa and mother of the Nāgas), [Mahābhārata; Bhāgavata-purāṇa] etc.

5) f. A daughter of Dakṣa (read Kadrū)

6) f. (ūs) a particular divine personification (described in certain legends which relate to the bringing down of the Soma from heaven ; according to the Brāhmaṇas, ‘the earth personified’), [Taittirīya-saṃhitā vi; Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa iii, vi; Kāṭhaka etc.]

7) Name of a plant (?).

8) Kadrū (कद्रू):—(See kadru) f. ([Ṛg-veda])

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1) Kadru (कद्रु):—(druḥ) 2. m. Tawny colour. a. (druḥ-druḥ-dru) Tawny.

2) Kadrū (कद्रू):—(drūḥ) 3. f. The wife of Kāsyapa mother of the serpent race.

[Sanskrit to German]

Kadru in German

context information

Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

Kannada-English dictionary

Source: Alar: Kannada-English corpus

Kadru (ಕದ್ರು):—

1) [noun] the brownish-yellow colour; tawny colour.

2) [noun] (myth.) the mother of species of snakes.

context information

Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.

Relevant text

Search found 40 books and stories containing Kadru, Kadrū; (plurals include: Kadrus, Kadrūs). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Verse 2.13.18 < [Chapter 13 - The Story of Śeṣa]

Verses 2.13.19-20 < [Chapter 13 - The Story of Śeṣa]

Verse 5.15.10 < [Chapter 15 - Seeing Sri Radha]

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Chapter 30 - Kadrū-saṅgama and Suparṇā-saṅgama Tīrtha

Chapter 89 - Vañjarāsaṅgama and other Holy Centres

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Chapter 38 - The Glory of Kṣīrakuṇḍa: Kadrū’s Expiation for her Deceitful Action < [Section 1 - Setu-māhātmya]

Chapter 131 - The Greatness of Nāgeśvara (nāga-īśvara-tīrtha) < [Section 3 - Revā-khaṇḍa]

Chapter 76 - Aruṇeśvara (aruṇa-īśvara-liṅga) < [Section 2 - Caturaśīti-liṅga-māhātmya]

+ 13 more chapters / show preview

Story of Kadrū