Once again, O Lord, you showed your kshatriya might by vanquishing Ravana, the mighty demon. Yet, O Supreme Being, I confess that I do not truly know the extent or nature of your wondrous deeds. After you lifted me up, tell me: how do you bring the world into being? By whom is it sustained and protected, and in what manner does this all take place? O Lord, again and again you are born so effortlessly—how does this happen? How does creation begin, and how does it ultimately end? Please tell me: how are the yugas measured, and what is the count within a caturyuga? What are the differences among them, and what is the state of the world in each, O great Lord? Who are those who perform sacrifices, and which kings have attained the highest success? Please, for my sake, summarize all this. Be gracious to me and reveal these mysteries. Hearing these earnest questions, the Supreme Lord, who had taken the form of a great boar, laughed. As he laughed, the Earth beheld a wondrous sight: within his belly she saw the sustainer of the world. Within him, she saw the moon and the sun, the planets, and the seven worlds, each established in their proper place, upholding their respective duties. Awestruck by this vision, the Earth trembled in every limb. Then, when the great-souled one opened his mouth, the Earth, pure in every part, beheld him in his fullness. She saw him in his four-armed form, lying peacefully asleep upon the vast ocean. She saw Lord Janardana resting upon the great serpent Shesha, and from his navel blossomed a lotus, within which sat the four-faced Brahma. Overwhelmed, the Earth, with hands joined in reverence, began to praise the Creator with a hymn. She spoke: “Salutations to you, O lotus-eyed one! Salutations to you, clad in yellow garments! Salutations to you, destroyer of the enemies of the gods, O supreme soul! Salutations to you, whose chest shines as you recline upon Shesha’s couch; salutations to you, lord of all gods, giver of liberation. Salutations to you, who bear the bow, sword, and discus, who are beyond birth and death; salutations to you, born from the great lotus arising from your navel. Salutations to you, whose lips are coral-red and whose hands shine like tender shoots. I seek refuge in you, I am content—protect me, O Lord, from the suffering of women and serpents. “Seeing your boar form, O Janardana, dark as the full indigo night, I am again filled with fear, for the whole world is encompassed by your body. O Lord, show me your mercy and rescue me from this great fear. May Kesava protect my feet, Narayana my shanks, Madhava my waist, and Govinda my secret parts. May Vishnu protect my navel, Madhusudana my abdomen, Trivikrama my thighs, and Vamana my heart. May Sridhara protect my throat, Hrishikesha my mouth, Padmanabha my eyes, and Damodara my head.” Having thus invoked the protection of Hari, the Earth concluded her hymn, saying, “Salutations, O blessed Vishnu,” and then fell silent. Suta continued: Then Hari, pleased by the Earth’s devotion, revealed to her his own divine maya, yet remained there before her in his boar form. He spoke gently: “What is your question, O beautiful-hipped one? This inquiry of yours is most rare. I shall tell you the subject of the Purana, drawn from all the scriptures. “Among all the Puranas, this verse is considered universal; having determined this, O Earth, listen now to the entirety. The Purana is defined by five great topics: creation, dissolution, genealogies, the periods of Manus, and the accounts of dynasties. “First, I shall recount the primary creation, O radiant-faced one, from which the deeds of gods and kings begin to be known, and the eternal Supreme Soul is understood in its fourfold aspects. In the beginning, I was the great sky. From me, the subtle element arose—consciousness emerged as a single entity. That consciousness, divided threefold by sattva, rajas, and tamas, took on distinct forms as the elements. “In that triad, I am the darkness called ‘mahat,’ always named the chief by those who know all. From that, the knower of the field arose, and from that, intellect was born. From these, the causes of hearing and the other senses arose, and thus the chain of senses was established for the world. By these elements, O blessed one, I fashioned the embodied form by my own self. “There was emptiness, sound, and space; from that arose air, then light; from that, water; and then, O goddess, you were created by me as the bearer of beings. On the earth, as in water, foam appeared, then a lump, then an egg. When it was formed and split, I existed within it, composed of water, manifesting myself at the very beginning. “Having created the waters, I dwelled there; thus, my name became Narayana, for I dwell in the waters. In every cycle, I return there again, and from my navel, as in the first time, arises another when I sleep. “O goddess, from my navel-lotus, the four-faced Brahma arose. I instructed him: ‘Create the beings, O wise one.’ Having spoken thus, I disappeared. He pondered deeply, but as the sustainer of the world, he found nothing to support. “Then, great anger arose in Brahma, the one born from the unmanifest. From that anger, a child appeared on his lap. The child cried, and Brahma, whose form was unmanifest, restrained him. The child asked for a name, and Brahma named him Rudra. “He too was told, ‘Create this world, O auspicious one.’ Unable to do so, he entered the waters and devoted himself to austerity. Immersed in the waters, Brahma then created another lord of creatures from his right thumb, and from his left thumb, he created his wife. In her, the lord begot Manu Svayambhuva. Thus, the creation of beings was accomplished by Brahma in ancient times. “The Earth then asked: ‘Tell me in detail, O lord of gods, about the original creation, and how Brahma, called Narayana, came to be at the beginning of the cycle.’ “The Blessed Lord replied: ‘He created all beings as Narayana. I shall tell you, O goddess, all of this as it happened—listen, O Earth. At the end of the past cycle, after waking from sleep at night, Brahma, filled with sattva, saw the world as empty. ‘Narayana is supreme, inconceivable, the ancestor even of the highest. The Blessed Lord, in the form of Brahma, is beginningless and the source of all.