Jaya
By Swami Harshananda
Jaya and Vijaya, the twin children of the sage Kardama and his wife Devahuti, are two interesting personalities in the Purāṇa-s dedicated to the Viṣṇu sect. Being great devotees of Viṣṇu, they used to have the vision of Lord Viṣṇu regularly during worship.
Once they conducted a Vedic sacrifice of the king Marutta admirably well. However, differences arose between them in the matter of sharing the wealth and fees earned through that. This lead them to mutually curse each other. Jaya became an elephant and Vijaya became a crocodile. The tale of Gajendramokṣa involves both of them. After both were liberated from the curses they were taken as dvārapālakas[1] of Vaikuṇtha, the world of Viṣṇu.
On another occasion, they rudely prevented the great sages, Sanaka and others, from entering the Vaikuṇtha. They were cursed by them. As a result, they were born as the demons Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu, Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa, and Siśupāla and Dantavakra. In all these births, they were killed by Lord Viṣṇu and liberated from the curse and later they continued their service as the gatekeepers of Lord Viṣṇu.
References[edit]
- ↑ Dvārapālakas means gate keepers.
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore