Lord Vishnu lived in his abode Vaikuntha with his wife Goddess Lakshmi. Their home was guarded by Gandharvas.
One day Brahma's sons - four Kumaras visited Vaikuntha to see Lord Vishnu and his consort. They passed through the six gates, however on reaching the seventh gate they way was thwarted by Jaya and Vijaya who were Vishnu’s most loyal and loving gatekeepers.
The four Kumaras were angered by the gatekeeper's rude behavior. They considered the Kumars as young boys and asked them to leave saying that Vishnu was asleep. However, the Kumars knew that Vishnu was wake and ready to see them.
When the Kumars revealed their true identity. Jaya and Vijaya were both surprised and scared. They apologized to the Kumars. But the Kumars felt very insulted and cursed Jaya and Vijaya - 'You both full of yourselves and vainly think that you possess God himself. You lied to us and insulted us. We curse that you will loose your standing as Vishnu's gatekeeper and descend the Earth as demons. Your ego will manifest in you demon form. You both will be evil minded and will be hated by people '.
Jaya and Vijaya pleaded Kumars not to curse them. But the Kumars were unyielding and left Vaikuntha.
Jaya and Vijaya were very loyal towards Vishnu. They grieved and asked Lord to have mercy on them. In fact, they did not wanted to leave the service of Lord Vishnu.
Lord Vishnu admired the commitment of Viyaja and Jaya. Further, he knew it well that they had stopped the Kumars in innocence. Therefore Lord Vishnu took mercy on them and said, 'You both shall make your way back to Vaikuntha, but before that you need to descend the Earth due to Kumar's curse. So either you descend the Earth take seven births as my devotees or take three births as my enemies. If you are take birth as my enemies, I shall incarnate and kill you. You both will ultimately gain salvation after three births and return to Vaikuntha'.
Jaya and Vijaya agreed to descend the Earth and take three consecutive births as Vishnu's enemies as they found seven births too long to keep away from Lord Vishnu. Thus
As a result of curse, Jaya and Vijaya took their first birth as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu in Satya Yuga. They were born to Sage Kashyap and Diti, who was daughter of King Daksha.
In this birth, Hiranyaksha (Jaya) was killed by Varha (the boar form of Vishnu). The elder brother Hiranyakashipu (Vijaya) was devasted by Narshima (the lion form of Vishnu).
In their second birth, Jaya and Vijaya were born as Ravana and Kumbhakarna and were killed by Vishnu incarnated as Lord Rama .
In the third and last lease of birth as Vishnu's enemies, Jaya and Vijaya were born as Dantavakra and Shishupala. They were killed by Vishnu incarnated as Lord Krishna. They attained salvation and rid of curse on them. Once again they returned to Vaikuntha as gatekeepers.
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