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Who is speaking?

Every chapter of the Bhāgavatam, coloured by how many narrators deep it goes. Choose one to see its frames and every verse where a new voice begins.

335 chapters

The depth map

1 voice5 voices deep
Canto 1
Canto 2
Canto 3
Canto 4
Canto 5
Canto 6
Canto 7
Canto 8
Canto 9
Canto 10
Canto 11
Canto 12

SB 2.5 · 3 voices deep

The Cause of All Causes

The frames this chapter sits inside, outermost first. Choose one to read its note and the verse where its voice begins.

Nārada asks his father Brahmā about creation, and Brahmā answers.

Where this voice begins

“Lord Brahmā said: My dear boy Nārada, being merciful to all (including me) you have asked all these questions because I have been inspired to see into the prowess of the Almighty Personality of Godhead.”

In the translation

Voices in this chapter

Each verse whose translation opens by naming its speaker, in order. Repeated openings by the same speaker are grouped.

  1. 2.5.1Nārada Muni
  2. 2.5.9Lord Brahmā

The frames come from where the translation itself says who is speaking (“Śukadeva Gosvāmī said …”). Their exact start and end verses, the episode labels and the setting bands are study aids, not words of the scripture; Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on each verse is always the final word.