Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.1197

c4.1197

3) Varāhāvatāra. (Incarnation as a Pig). Jaya and Vijaya were the two watchers who stood at the gate of Mahāviṣṇu. Once the great hermit-sages Sanaka and others reached Vaikuṇṭha to visit Mahāviṣṇu. Then Jaya and Vijaya treated the hermits without respect. The hermits cursed them that they would become Dānavas (Asuras or giants). They also said that when they were slain thrice by Mahāviṣṇu they would reach heaven. At that period when hermit Kaśyapa was carrying on his evening prayer and devotional rites, his wife Diti approached him with lustful desire. Kaśyapa told her that as he was engaged in prayer and meditation it was not proper on her part to select that particular moment for her lustful desire. But she persisted and the sage yielded and that of out that union two sons were born. They are the two asuras Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu. Of these Hiraṇyākṣa was the incarnation of Jaya and Hiraṇyakaśipu that of Vijaya.* With the birth of these two the whole world began to tremble. These two asura brothers began to terrorize the world. They wandered about causing destruction and devastation wherever they went. Once Hiraṇyākṣa got down into the ocean and began to beat the waves in the ocean with his cudgel. The ocean began to sway and surge. Varuna (the Lord of water) was terrified and he ran to Mahāviṣṇu and sought protection. Mahāviṣṇu took the form of a Pig and came to the ocean. When Hiraṇyākṣa saw Mahāviṣṇu he took the earth in his hand and ran to Pātāla (the nether world). Mahāviṣṇu followed him and killed him and recovered the earth. (Bhāgavata, Skandha 3, Chapter 18; Bhāgavata, Skandha 2, Chapter 7 and Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 4).