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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 4.29 · 4 voices deep

Talks Between Nārada and King Prācīnabarhi

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

Nārada redirects a king absorbed in sacrifices by telling him a story about himself.

Where this voice begins

“Nārada Muni asked King Prācīnabarhiṣat: My dear King, what do you desire to achieve by performing these fruitive activities? The chief aim of life is to get rid of all miseries and enjoy happiness, but these two things cannot be realized by fruitive activity.”

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. 4.29.1King Prācīnabarhi
  2. 4.29.2Nārada Muni· 6 openings
  3. 4.29.56The King
  4. 4.29.60Nārada Muni
  5. 4.29.80Maitreya Ṛṣi

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.