Jaya, Vijaya and four Kumaras

Vishnu with Garuda

Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, and Sanatkumara were the Kumaras, the four beings born from the mind of Brahma at the origin of the creation.

One day the Kumara decided to go to pay homage to Vishnu and presented themselves to the gate of Vaikuntha, the kingdom of God.

The Kumaras, thanks to their meditation and a gift given to them by Brahma, they always look like children, kumara in Sanskrit means in fact child.

When Jaya and Vijaya, who were guarding the gates of Vaikuntha, saw these four children, they blocked their passage, saying that Vishnu was resting and could not be bothered.

The Kumaras replied that Vishnu always had time for his own devotees and that no one could stop them. But Jaya and Vijay were adamant.

The Kumaras then decided to teach a lesson to those two guards and threw them a curse would be reborn on earth as mortal beings.

The two realized their mistake too late, then they went to Vishnu to be loose from the curse.

"You know that no one can be dissolved by a curse when it was launched - said Vishnu - so you have to be born as mortals. I give you, however, two alternatives: you can be born seven times as my devotees or you can be born as my enemies, but only three times."

Jaya and Vijaya much thought to the two alternatives. Finally, they decided to be born just three times as enemies of Vishnu, because they could not think of being separated from God for seven long earthly lives.

The first time Jaya and Vijaya were born as Hiraneyaksha and Hiraneyakashyipu in Satya Yuga. Hiranyaksha was a asura, a demon who was killed by Vishnu came to earth as Varaha, the boar lifted the earth from the cosmic ocean floor. While Hiranyakasipuvenne killed by Narasimha, also avatar of Vishnu.

Jaya and Vijaya were born then as Ravana and Kumbhakarna in Treta yuga and were killed by Vishnu in his avatar of Rama and Lakshmana.

Jaya and Vijaya finally finally born in Dwapara Yuga as Sisupala and Dantavakra and were killed by Balarama and Krishna, avatar of the god Vishnu.

Jaya and Vijaya then had three times as enemies of Vishnu and three times they were killed by avatars of the great God. 

At the end of their third life, they obtained the liberation and came back to the doors of Vaikhunta.