The Cursed Doorkeepers
Hiranyaksha and his brother Hiranyakashipu were once Jaya and Vijaya — the divine doorkeepers of Vaikuntha, Vishnu's abode. When four boy-sages came to visit Vishnu, they were turned away by the doorkeepers. The sages cursed them to be born as demons three times.
Vishnu himself accepted this — saying it was part of the divine play, that his former servants would be his opponents in three lives and return to him through battle, which is itself a form of intimacy.
Hiranyaksha was born in this world of immense size and power. He searched all the worlds for a worthy opponent. No one dared face him. He dove into the cosmic ocean and found the earth goddess there.
He seized her and carried her to the bottom of the ocean.
The Search
Vishnu had incarnated as the great boar Varaha. When he heard that the earth had been stolen, he searched through the cosmic waters.
He found Hiranyaksha.
The Battle
What followed was a battle of cosmic proportions. Hiranyaksha struck with his mace. Varaha moved with divine speed, evading every blow. The battle lasted through the equivalent of thousands of years.
Brahma and the sages watched from above, fearing the cosmos itself might be destroyed.
Then Vishnu struck. His tusk pierced the demon's vital point. Hiranyaksha fell — and his face, in death, was radiant. He had died in battle with the Lord himself. This was the death he had been born for.
The earth was lifted. The cosmos was restored.