Kadru, angry that her sons will not help her cheat in a wager, curses them to burn in the snake sacrifice of King Janamejaya. Years later the naga Takshaka kills Janamejaya's father Parikshit, entering the king's fruit as a small copper insect and swelling into a serpent at sunset. Janamejaya calls priests and lights the fire; the mantras drag the snakes from everywhere into it. Vasuki sends his sister's son Astika, a boy brought up by sages, to the sacrifice. He praises the king so well that he is offered a boon, at the moment Takshaka, shaken loose from Indra's cloak, is falling toward the flames. Astika says 'Stay' three times, Takshaka hangs in the air, and the boy asks that the sacrifice end. The nagas promise that whoever recalls Astika's story need not fear them.
Mahabharata, Adi Parva, tr. K. M. Ganguli (Project Gutenberg 15474); Nag Panchami (Wikipedia)
Sources: Mahabharata, Adi Parva, tr. K. M. Ganguli (Project Gutenberg 15474); Nag Panchami (Wikipedia)
Told by the goddesses to help the Brahmin Vijaya, Barbarika guards his night-long rite at Guptakshetra against a demoness, a mountain and the demon Repalendra, the she-mule Duhadruha and a disguised demon he follows down to the city of Bahuprabha. The Nagas grant Vijaya success, and Vijaya gives Barbarika the ash of his fire.
Gods and demons churn the milk ocean with Mount Mandara on the tortoise's back; poison, treasures, Lakshmi and the nectar emerge, and Vishnu as Mohini keeps the nectar for the gods.
The gods build Shiva a cosmic chariot with Brahma as charioteer and Vishnu as the arrow to destroy the three cities of Taraka's sons; the Shaiva prelude has Vishnu send a heretical teacher to strip the cities of merit, while the Bhagavata has Vishnu as a cow and Brahma as a calf drink the demons' reviving well dry.
The Wind and the serpent test their strength on a mountain; the broken pieces become holy hills of the south and the island of Lanka.
Abhimanyu falls inside Drona's wheel array; Subhadra mourns him and Krishna comforts her. When Uttara's son is born dead from Ashvatthama's weapon, Subhadra bows her head to Krishna and asks him to keep his vow, and he revives the child by an act of truth. The Bhagavata has Krishna shield the child in the womb, and the child spend his life searching for the one he saw.
Soma is kept in the highest heaven; a falcon carries it down to men while the archer Krishanu shoots at him. Later texts make the bird the Gayatri metre, then Garuda.
To free his mother Vinata, Garuda flies to steal the amrita; on the way he eats an elephant and a tortoise on a branch so heavy it breaks, carries the branch with its hanging sages until they bless him, fights through the gods' defences, and wins from Vishnu a place above him and from Indra a friendship.
Indra's charioteer Matali chooses the naga Sumukha as husband for his daughter, but Garuda has marked Sumukha as his next meal; when Indra gives the snake long life, Garuda storms in boasting that he carries Vishnu on one feather, and Vishnu lays one arm on him.