That the shāstra-s continuously refer to events that transpired before them is a well-known attribute. Protagonists of a story will be refered to as “narendra”, “rājendra”, etc., other such epithets which invoke Indra as a superlative, him being the king of deva-s.

There are smaller such incidents, which are just presented as off-handed comments, but are extremely deep and have entire histories attached to them. One such instance is when Rāma is about to leave for the forest, to being his vanavāsa, his grief-stricken mother, Kausalyā pronounces many blessings on him. She says, amongst other things:

यन्मङ्गलं सहस्राक्षे सर्वदेवनमस्कृते। वृत्रनाशे समभवत्तत्ते भवतु मङ्गलम्॥

यन्मङ्गलं सुपर्णस्य विनताकल्पयत्पुरा। अमृतं प्रार्थयानस्य तत्ते भवतु मङ्गलम्॥

Roughly translated as : “Which ever auspicious portents occured to the thousand-eyed one when he destroyed Vṛtra, may those occur to you as well. Whatever auspiciouness Vinatā prayed for Suparṇa when he endeavored for amṛta, may those auspicious protents happen to you as well.” While Indra’s destruction of Vṛtra is among the greatest of ārya stories, acquiring new meanings and forms over long periods of time, Vinatā’s story is comparable to Kausalyā’s helplessness and they both share a concern for their son, endeavoring on a perilous journey.

Vinatā and Kadrū were the wives of Kashyapa, and the former is the mother of Garuḍa and Aruṇa, while the latter is the mother of all sarpa-s and nāga-s. Vinatā and Kadrū placed a bet, on whether Uccaishravā’s tail is black or white. Vinatā said it to be white and Kadrū said it to be black. Considering Uccaishravā is a white horse, naturally all of his parts would also be white. So a case can be made that Kadrū does not know her current affairs. Irregardless, they put on this wager, went over to check on the all-white-horse-with-nothing-black-on-him and Kadrū cheated by asking her sons, the snakes to cover Uccaishravā’s tail, which made it appear black in color, thus “defeating” Vinatā. The condition was whoever was wrong in her guess, would become the slave of the other. Hence Vinatā was now Kadrū’s slave.

Kadrū and her sons began to order Vinatā and Garuḍa around accordingly. Needless to say that the latter pair was dejected and after a few adventures of unreasonable requests, Garuḍa asks his half-brothers what would it take to be freed from this slavery. The sarpa-s replied that if Garuḍa bring to them the amṛta of the deva-s from svarga, he and his mother would be free. Garuḍa relayed the same to his mother who pronounced the following blessings unto him:

पक्षौ ते मारुतः पातु चन्द्रः पृष्ठं तु पुत्रक। शिरस्तु पातु ते वह्निर्भास्करः सर्वमेव तु॥

Meaning: “Let the Maruts protect your wings. O son! Let the moon protect your back. Let the fire protect your head. Let the sun protect all your body.” And also that she would always pray to bring him welfare. Saying that these prayers “worked” is an understatement. Both Garuḍa and Rāma would bring nothing but destruction to their enemies after their endeavors. Garuḍa also became the vāhana of Viṣṇu.

In another instance, pravacanakāra-s to justify Rāma’s quality of being “kṛtajña” (Rāmāyaṇa 1.1.2) cite a story from Bhāgavata Purāṇa. In the 6th adhyāya of 9th skandha, the Ikṣvāku vansha is described. One king of this lineage is Puraṅjaya. The devatā-s and dānava-s were at it again, you know the usual, and they request help from Puraṅjaya. The latter agreed on the condition that Indra would become his vāhana. Indra obviously refuses at first but the at behest Viṣṇu agrees. Indra takes the form of a bull, and Puraṅjaya sits on his back, kukud. They won their fight against the dānava-s and since Puraṅjaya had sat on the back of Indra, he came to be known as Kakutstha, meaning ‘stationed on back’.

पुरंजयस्तस्य सुत इन्द्रवाह इतीरितः। ककुत्स्थ इति चाप्युक्तः शृणु नामानि कर्मभिः॥

Since Rāma descends from Puraṅjaya, he is called “Kākutstha”, much like how he is called “Dāsharathi” and “Rāghava”, thus expressing gratitute to Indra and his ancestor.

These are small things, but a little curiosity goes a long way.