To the ancient and venerable Person, who ever abides by the words of Brahman, I offer reverence—to Viṣṇu, who once assumed the form of a man and whose very nature is praised in sacred hymns. At the very moment of his birth, the Veda, along with all its branches, approached him. With the churning of the ocean of the Veda by his own intellect, he brought forth radiant light into the world and gave rise to the moon that is the Mahābhārata. Indeed, if these three—the Bhārata, the sun, and Viṣṇu—were not present, the world would remain plunged in the darkness of ignorance. Thus, know Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa to be none other than Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Lord. Who but the lotus-eyed Lord could have been the author of the Mahābhārata? It is from those who speak the words of Brahman that I have heard this Purāṇa. From the all-knowing one, honored throughout all the worlds and blazing with splendor, the Purāṇa—first among all scriptures—was remembered by Brahmā. It stands as the highest among worlds, the foundation of all knowledge, and the means for fulfilling the three aims of life; virtuous and vast, its reach extends to a hundred crores. Long ago, when all the worlds were spent, Keśava, in the form of a horse and at Brahmā’s command, retrieved the Vedas. The four Vedas, their limbs, the Purāṇa, and the vast science of law—all the scriptures—had been seized by an Asura and made his own. Then, at the beginning of the kalpa, the Lord took the form of a fish and recovered them from the ocean of waters. Dwelling within those waters, the Lord declared all this in full. Having heard these teachings, the Four-faced Brahmā spoke them to the sages and to the knowers of the Vedas. Thus, at that time, the origin of all the scriptures and of the Purāṇa came about. Yet, as time passed and the Purāṇa was not being properly retained, the Lord, in the form of Vyāsa, appeared in every age for the sake of compiling and preserving it. In each Dvāpara Yuga, he proclaimed it in four hundred thousand verses, and later divided it into eighteen parts for the world to receive. Even now, in the realms of the gods, the Purāṇa stretches to a hundred crores of verses, but here, among mortals, it is arranged in summary as four hundred thousand. Now, I shall declare to you the highly meritorious Purāṇa known as the Padma, which consists of fifty-five thousand verses and is endowed with five sections. First comes the Section on Creation, then the Section on the Earth, followed by the Section on Heaven, then the Section on the Netherworld. The fifth, known as the Uttara Section, is the supreme one. From this great Padma, the world itself is composed. Because its narratives are rooted in the lotus (Padma), it is thus called the Padma Purāṇa. This Purāṇa is pure, sanctified by the greatness of Viṣṇu. What the God of gods, Hari, once spoke to Brahmā, and what Brahmā in turn told Marīci in its entirety, is this very Padma Purāṇa, proclaimed by Brahmā in the world. As the support of all beings, the wise call it Padma. This Padma Purāṇa is recited here as fifty-five thousand verses, spoken in five sections, composed in summary by Vyāsa. The first section is Pauṣkara, in which the great Virāṭ was self-born. The second is the Section on Sacred Fords, containing all the planetary groups. The third section recounts the deeds of kings who gave abundant gifts, and the fourth describes genealogies. In the fifth section, the essence of liberation and all truths are explained. In Pauṣkara, the creation of all beings by Brahmā is described in nine ways, including the creation of gods, sages, and ancestors. The second section describes the mountains and the seven islands with their oceans. The third tells of the creation of Rudra and the curse of Dakṣa, while the fourth narrates the origin of kings and the lineages of all dynasties. In the final section, the arrangement of the ultimate paths and the teachings of the scriptures on liberation are recounted. All this I shall tell you, O twice-born, in this Purāṇa. This Purāṇa is pure, a treasure of fame, greatly beloved by the ancestors. It is always for the happiness of the Lord and, for human beings, destroys even the gravest of sins. Sūta now spoke: I bow to the Lord of all worlds, the master of the universe, who, knowing the primordial matter, creates this existence in the form of creation. The creator of worlds, knower of their essence, established in yoga and expert in it, produced all beings, both immobile and mobile. To that unborn, universal architect, Lord of consciousness, witness of the worlds, desiring to know the ancient stories, I seek refuge in the mighty one. Having reverently saluted Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva with a concentrated mind, and also Indra, the guardians of the worlds, and Savitṛ, with meditation, I offer my respects to the most eminent among sages: Vasiṣṭha, the great-souled, to Jātūkarṇa, renowned for austerity, and to Ākṣu. To the blessed one, Vyāsa—the creator, the primordial person, follower of Bhṛgu’s words—I offer my salutations. Thus, I listened to the Purāṇa from the Brahmin sage, honored in all worlds, all-knowing, and radiant with brilliance. That unmanifest cause, eternal, composed of both being and non-being, from the great principle down to the particular, is said to create all things. In the golden egg, at first, was the supreme origin of Brahmā; the egg was covered by waters, by the elements, and by radiance—by air, and from that air, by space. Thus, it was enveloped by the primordial elements, which in turn were covered by the great principle, and the great principle by the unmanifest. The manifestation of worlds within the egg has been described, as well as the origin of rivers and mountains. There is a summary of the Manvantaras and an account of the Kalpas, the abode of Brahmā, and the creation of Brahmā’s progeny—all these are narrated.