Adhyaya 110

Dharmadatta asks why Viṣṇu’s doorkeepers, Jaya and Vijaya, came to bear their distinctive form. The attendants recount their former life of intense Vaiṣṇava discipline—sense-restraint, righteous conduct, and constant japa of the eight-syllabled mantra with Viṣṇu-vratas—culminating in a direct vision of Hari. Invited to Marutta’s sacrifice, they receive wealth, but quarrel while dividing it and exchange curses: Vijaya becomes a crocodile and Jaya an elephant (mātaṅga). They appeal to Viṣṇu; the Lord upholds the inviolability of devotees’ words and promises their eventual return to His abode. Reborn by the Gaṇḍakī with memory intact, during Kārtika bathing the crocodile seizes the elephant; Hari appears, rescues them with the discus, grants a sāyujya/sārūpya-like nearness, and takes them to Vaikuṇṭha. The place is sanctified as Harikṣetra. The chapter ends with vrata and ethical injunctions—Ekādaśī, dawn bathing in specified rāśis, honoring brāhmaṇas, cows, and Vaiṣṇavas, and food restraints—assuring Viṣṇu’s supreme abode through lifelong vow and bhakti.