Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.207

c7.207

18) Garuḍa saved Uparicaravasu. Once a controversy started between the Devas and the brahmins, the former advocating the use of goat's flesh in performing yajñas while the brahmins contended that grains were sufficient for the purpose. Uparicaravasu, who arbitrated in the debate spoke in favour of the Devas, which the brahmins did not like, and they cursed Vasu to fall from the sky into the pits of the earth. This curse was countered by the Devas blessing him that as long as Uparicaravasu remained on earth he would not feel hungry and that he would regain his old form due to the blessings of Mahāviṣṇu. Vasu prayed to Viṣṇu, who sent Garuḍa to the former, and Garuḍa carried Vasu to the sky on his wings. Thus Vasu became again Uparicaravasu. (Śānti Parva, Chapter 338).