Birth of Aruna and Garuda

King of serpents, Vasuki's sister Jaratkaru got married to Muni Jaratkaru.

Both had the same name. This had two purposes:
Uddhara — emancipation of the forefathers of Muni Jaratkaru, because only if the lineage continues, the forefathers in punyaloka can continue to stay there. Otherwise, they will fall into naraka.

What is their fault in this? What can they do if their descendants opt not to have children?
The fault is that they did not impart proper knowledge, samskara, and dharma to their descendants.

But here, Jaratkaru was not someone who had gone astray or taken up adharma.
His focus was on moksha — he didn’t want to get entangled in worldly affairs.
But the moment he saw the plight of his forefathers, he reconciled and became ready to get married — because he was the sole surviving member of his clan. This he didn’t realize till the time his forefathers told him this.

On the wife’s side, Vasuki knew that his entire clan of serpents was going to burn and die in the Sarpa Yajna of Janamejaya, due to a curse by their own mother. This could be averted only if a son was born to his sister Jaratkaru from the dharmatma Muni Jaratkaru.

Aastika was born to the Jaratkaru–Jaratkaru couple, whose birth had this twofold purpose.
Mahabharata calls Aastika:

मातृपितृभयापहः
Someone who averted dangers on both his father’s side and mother’s side.

Aastika was a perfect son — a perfect human.

He learned Vedas and Shastras, thereby repaying the debt to the Rishis.
He performed yajnas, thereby repaying his debt towards the Devas.
He got married and begot progeny, thereby repaying debt to the forefathers.

His father also attained swarga due to his own merit and the merit of his son.

Now Shaunaka Maharshi wants to hear about all these in detail.
This is going to run into several episodes.
We will take it up topic by topic.

Kadru and Vinata were sisters — both daughters of Daksha Prajapati, married to Kashyapa Maharshi.
Overall, thirteen of Daksha’s daughters were married to Kashyapa, but this particular story centres around two of them — Kadru and Vinata.

One day, in a joyful mood, Kashyapa told both of them,
'Ask me for whatever you want.'
Kashyapa was very powerful. He could grant any wish.

Kadru said,
'I want a thousand Nagas as my sons, all equally powerful.'

Vinata said,
'I just want two sons, more powerful, handsome, and valorous than Kadru’s sons.'

Kashyapa granted them the boons and instructed them to take care of the pregnancies well.

There was always this sense of competition between the two of them — matsara buddhi.
You will be able to see how matsara buddhi can lead to trouble.

You always think that Kadru was the one trying to dominate Vinata and trap her.
But here, in the first place, Vinata wants two sons who are better than Kadru’s.
She could have asked for the most valorous, most handsome, and most powerful sons.
But why say — better than hers?
Apparently, Kadru didn’t hear this, because Mahabharata says both were happy and satisfied with the boons they got.

After a long time, Kadru laid 1000 eggs and Vinata laid two eggs.
The maids carefully placed the eggs of both in warm pots for hatching.

After 500 years, the 1000 eggs of Kadru hatched, and 1000 Nagas came out.
Kadru is the Nagamata — mother of all serpents.

Vinata’s eggs were not hatching.
She became impatient and anxious — and jealous seeing Kadru’s thousand sons playing around.

After waiting for some more time, she broke open one of the eggs herself.
But she saw that the body of her son inside the egg was only half-developed.
The portion above the waist was fully developed, but below the waist, the body was undeveloped.

The child cursed his mother:
'You have destroyed my life because of your matsara buddhi with your co-wife.
For this, you will have to live as her slave for 500 years.

My brother, who is in the other egg — he will release you from slavery, provided you don’t do the same thing to him also.
So if you want this other son of yours to be powerful and release you from Kadru’s slavery, then wait patiently for another 500 years.'

This son of Vinata, called Aruna, became the charioteer of Surya.
He can be seen as the color in the sky at dawn.
That color itself is called Aruna Varna or Arunima.

After 500 years, the second egg broke open and Garuda came out.
His food was snakes. This is what Brahma had decided for him.
As soon as he came out, he went up into the sky searching for food.

This is how the snakes, Garuda, and Aruna came into existence.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi