नारदात्प्राप्तवाञ्छक्रः शक्रादपि पराशरः । पराशरात्ततो व्यासो व्यासादपि मया विभो
Narada received it, then Indra (Shakra) received it; from Shakra came Parashara; from Parashara then Vyasa; and from Vyasa, O king, this has been received by me.
एवं परम्पराप्राप्तं पुराणमिदमुत्तमम् । शृणु त्वमपि राजेन्द्र मत्सकाशात्परं हितम्
Thus this excellent Purana has been received in succession; listen, O King, you too, for it is supremely beneficial and beneficial to seekers.
सर्वाण्येव पुराणानि संज्ञेयानि नरर्षभ । द्वादशैव सहस्राणि प्रोक्तानीह मनीषिभिः
O best of humans, all the Puranas are to be so called; learned men have said there are precisely twelve hundred of them.
पुनर्वृद्धिं गतानीह आख्यानैर्विविधैर्वृष । यथा स्कान्दं तथा चेदं भविष्यं कुरुनन्दन
Once more, O descendant of the Kurus, many narratives of growth and increase are here related — thus Skanda and likewise Çedha will be told.
स्कान्दं शतसहस्रं तु लोकानां ज्ञातमेव हि । भविष्यमेतदृषिणा लक्षार्द्धं संख्यया कृतम्
Skanda is known to number a hundred thousand worlds; this future account has been composed by the seer in tens of thousands and halves of thousands.
तच्छ्रुत्वा पुरुषो भक्त्या इदं फलमवाप्नुयात् । ऋद्धिर्वृद्धिस्तथा श्रीश्च भवन्ति तस्य निश्चितम्
Hearing this with devotion, a person attains its fruit: certainly prosperity, growth and splendour will come to him.
सुमन्तुरुवाच शृणुष्वेदं महाबाहो पुराणं पञ्चलक्षणम् । यच्छ्रुत्वा मुच्यते राजन्पुरुषो ब्रह्महत्यया
Sumantu said: Hear now this great-armed Purana of five marks; upon hearing it a king or man is freed even from the sin of killing a Brahmin.
पर्वाणि चात्र वै पञ्च कीर्तितानि स्वयम्भुवा । प्रथमं कथ्यते ब्राह्मं द्वितीयं वैष्णवं स्मृतम्
In that tradition five kinds of parvas are spoken of by the Self-born: first is the Brāhma (parva), second is called the Vaiṣṇava.
तृतीयं शैवमाख्यातं चतुर्थं त्वाष्ट्रमुच्यते । पञ्चमं प्रतिसर्गाख्यं सर्वलोकैः सुपूजितम्
The third is named Śaiva, the fourth is called Tvaṣṭra, and the fifth is called Pratisarga, honoured throughout the worlds.
एतानि तात पर्वाणि लक्षणानि निबोध मे । सर्गश्च प्रतिसर्गश्च वंशो मन्वन्तराणि च
O father, explain these parvas and their signs to me: creation and re-creation, lineages, and the manvantaras.
वंशानुचरितं चैव पुराणं पञ्चलक्षणम् । चतुर्दशभिर्विद्याभिर्भूषितं कुरुनन्दन
This Purāṇa recounts the lineage of kings and bears the five principal marks; it is adorned with fourteen branches of learning and is addressed to the descendant of Kuru.
अङ्गानि चतुरो वेदा मीमांसा न्यायविस्तरः । पुराणं धर्मशास्त्रं च विद्या ह्येताश्चतुर्दश
The four limbs are the Vedas; Mīmāṃsā and Nyāya form their expansive interpretation. This Purāṇa is a Dharma-shāstra, and the fourteen sciences together are called knowledge.
आयुर्वेदो धनुर्वेदो गान्धर्वश्चैव ते त्रयः । अर्थशास्त्रं चतुर्थं तु विद्या ह्यष्टादशैव ताः
Ayurveda, Dhanurveda and Gāndharva are the three arts; Arthaśāstra is the fourth — thus these eighteen branches of learning are enumerated.
प्रथमं कथ्यते सर्गो भूतानामिह सर्वशः । यच्छ्रुत्वा पापनिर्मुक्तो याति शान्तिमनुत्तमाम्
First is described the creation (sarga) of all beings everywhere; hearing this, one becomes freed from sin and attains supreme peace.
जगदासीत्पुरा तात तमोभूतमलक्षणम् । अविज्ञेयमतर्क्यं च प्रसुप्तमिव सर्वशः
Long ago the world was in darkness, featureless and indistinct; all things lay as if unawakened, beyond ordinary judgment and unknowable.
ततः स भगवानीशो ह्यव्यक्तो व्यञ्जयन्निदम् । महाभूतानि वृत्तौजाः प्रोत्थितस्तमनाशनः
Then the Lord, the Supreme Being, the unmanifest, brought forth this manifest: the great elements arose in order, kindling and destroying the primal darkness.
योऽसावतीन्द्रियोऽग्राह्यः सूक्ष्मोऽव्यक्तः सनातनः । सर्वभूतमयोऽचिन्त्यः स एष स्वयमुत्थितः
That which is foremost among the senses, incomprehensible, subtle, unmanifest and eternal — pervading all beings, beyond thought — that very Self rose by itself.
योऽसौ षड्विंशको लोके तथा यः पुरुषोत्तमः । भास्करश्च महाबाहो परं ब्रह्म च कथ्यते
He who is twenty-sixfold in the world, the best of men; O mighty-armed, he is described as the sun and as the supreme Brahman.
सोऽभिध्याय शरीरात्स्वात्सिसृक्षुर्विविधाः प्रजाः । अत एव ससर्जादौ तासु वीर्यमवासृजत्
Called 'body,' from him many kinds of creatures sprang forth; likewise at the primal creation he emitted their vital powers into them.
यस्मादुत्पद्यते सर्वं सदेवासुरमानुषम् । बीजं शुक्रं तथा रेत उग्रं वीर्यं च कथ्यते
From whom all — gods, demons and humans — come into being: the seed (bīja), the sexual fluid (śukra), the fierce semen (reṭa), and vigour (vīrya) are thus named.
वीर्यस्यैतानि नामानि कथितानि स्वयम्भुवा । तदण्डमभवद्धैमं ज्वालामालाकुलं विभो
Those were the names ascribed to Virya by the self-born one: from that seed came the great flame, surging like a necklace of fires.
यस्मिञ्जज्ञे स्वयं ब्रह्मा सर्वलोकपितामहः । सुरज्येष्ठश्चतुर्वक्त्रः परमेष्ठी पितामहः
When Brahmā himself thus knew it, he was called the grandfather of all worlds — the eldest among gods with four faces, the supreme venerable father.
क्षेत्रज्ञः पुरुषो वेधाः शम्भुर्नारायणस्तथा । पर्यायवाचकैः शब्दैरेव ब्रह्मा प्रकीर्त्यते
He is named Knower of the Field, the Person, the Piercer; likewise Śambhu and Nārāyaṇa — Brahmā is proclaimed through these interchangeable terms.
सदा मनीषिभिस्तात विरञ्चिः कञ्जजस्तथा । आपो नारा इति प्रोक्ता आपो वै नरसूनवः
Ever by the wise he is called Virañci and Lotus-born; the waters are called nārā, and indeed waters are sons of men.
ता यदस्यायनं पूर्वं तेन नारायणः स्मृतः । अरमित्येव शीघ्राय नियताः कविभिः कृताः
Those designations, assigned from earlier times, henceforth became remembered as Nārāyaṇa; poets quickly coined the epithet Arama for him.
आप एवार्णवीभूत्वा सुशीघ्रास्तेन ता नराः । यत्तत्कारणमव्यक्तं नित्यं सदसदात्मकम्
As waters, having become mighty rivers, those men swiftly attained that state — for the cause of that which is unmanifest, eternal, and of the nature of being and non-being.
तद्विसृष्टः स पुरुषो लोके ब्रह्मेति कीर्त्त्यते । एवं स भगवानण्डे तत्त्वमेव निरूप्य वै
That person who was thus brought into being in the world is praised as Brahman; so in the same way the Lord, in the cosmic egg, explicated that very principle.
ध्यानमास्थाय राजेन्द्र तदण्डमकरोद्द्विधा । शकलाभ्यां च राजेन्द्र दिवं भूमिं च निर्ममे
Having taken up meditation, the king divided that seed into two portions; with those splits the king made heaven and earth imperishable.
अन्तर्व्योम दिशश्चाष्टौ वारुणं स्थानमेव हि । ऊर्ध्वं महान्गतो राजन् समन्ताल्लोकभूतये
There are eight inner skies and directions; Varuṇa is established in his station — upward the great one proceeded, surrounding the world for its being.
महतश्चाप्यहंकारस्तस्माच्च त्रिगुणा अपि । त्रिगुणा अतिसूक्ष्मास्तु बुद्धिगम्या हि भारत
From the great one also arose ego; therefore there are three guṇas — these three guṇas are exceedingly subtle and attainable only by discriminating intellect, O Bhārata.