Brahma retires, having set the word of the Bharata in motion. In the hermitage, the blue Rishi wakes from his vision and calls upon Ganesa the Ekadanta to be the scribe of the great poem — but first he must bring his self-restraint as an offering, and write without resting the pen. Wherever the Rishi utters a verse the elephant-faced one has not paused to understand, the writing stops — and so the holy labour is bound together, verse and understanding, as long as the Rishi speaks true. And the young Sauti, the Purana-reciter, bears the tale of the tellers here at the lamps of the Naimisha forest.
Ugrasrava Sauti — the young Purana-reciter, narrating the history of the Bharata to the assembled Munis.
Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa — the blue Rishi, composer of the great poem, who sets the conditions of its writing.
Ganesa (Vinayaka) — the elephant-faced Lord, the Ekadanta, who becomes the scribe of the Bharata.