Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.182

c7.182

8) Garuḍa and Indra became friends. Indra hit with the Vajra (his special weapon) the wings of Garuḍa who was returning from Viṣṇu. It did not wound his body, but a feather of his fell in the atmosphere. Everybody who saw the feather acclaimed Garuḍa as Suparṇa (he with the good wings). Indra was wonder-struck, and he approached Garuḍa and requested that they should be friends in future and the pot of nectar be returned. Garuḍa replied that the nectar would be returned if he was granted the power to make nāgas his food, and Indra blessed him that he would live by consuming nāgas. And then Garuḍa told Indra thus: "I took this pot of amṛta not for my own use. The nāgas cheated my mother and made her a slave, and she will be freed if only this pot of nectar is given to them (nāgas). You may snatch off the pot from the nāgas; I shall not object to it."