Om! Having bowed down to Narayana and Nara, the most exalted male being, and also to the goddess Saraswati, the word Jaya is uttered. In this world, when it was destitute of brightness and light, and enveloped all around in total darkness, there came into being, as the primal cause of creation, a mighty egg—the one inexhaustible seed of all created beings. And from this egg came out the four-faced Lord Brahma, the Lord Pitamaha, with Suraguru and Sthanu; and after them the Prajapatis, the Viswadevas, the Adityas, the Vasus, and the twin Aswins. This—the cosmic wheel of ages, forever revolving without beginning and without end—is the sacred invocation with which the great Bharata is opened, as Sauti recites the poem composed by the Rishi Vyasa.
Ugrasrava Sauti — the young Purana-reciter who opens the great recitation.
Saunaka Kulapati — the aged ascetic elder who hosts the sacrifice, listening in reverence.
Brahma — the four-faced Lord who emerges from the cosmic egg.