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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 4.27 · 5 voices deep

Attack by Caṇḍavega on the City of King Purañjana; the Character of Kālakanyā

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

An allegory, not a new narrator: Purañjana's city is the body. Nārada explains its meaning in 4.29.

Where this voice begins

“My dear King, once in the past lived a king named Purañjana, who was celebrated for his great activities. He had a friend named Avijñāta [“the unknown one”]. No one could understand the activities of Avijñāta.”

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. 4.27.1Nārada Muni· 4 openings
  2. 4.27.26Kālakanyā
  3. 4.27.28The King of the Yavanas· 2 openings

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.