Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.955

c7.955

63) *Indra cut off the wings of Mountains.* In Kṛtayuga all the Mountains in the world had wings. They used to fly about here and there like Garuḍa with the speed of wind. The sages and the Devas feared that they might fall on their heads. The Devas held a conference and elected Indra to find a remedy for this. Indra cut off the wings of the mountains with his Vajra. The Maināka mountain was a friend of wind. When Indra was about to cut off the wings of that mountain, Wind suddenly removed it and deposited it in the ocean. It is out of his gratitude for this that the Maināka mountain rose up from the ocean and provided a resting place for Hanūmān, the son of Wind god, when he jumped to Laṅkā. This story was told by Maināka mountain to Hanūmān. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, 1st Sarga).