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The present Volume contains the Garuda Purana Part I (chapters 1-146) in English translation. It is the twelfth in the series of fifty Volumes on Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology. The project of the series was envisaged and financed in 1970 by late Lala Sunderlal Jain, the Veteran enterprizer in the field of Oriental Publication and the leading partner Messrs Motilal Banarsidass. Hitherto twelve Volumes of the Series, including the present one, (that is, four Vols. of the Siva Purana, two Vols. of the Linga Purana, five Vols .. of the Bhagavata Purana and one Vol. of the Garuda Purana) have been published and released for sale. The Garuda Purana is normally classified as a Vaisnava Purana, but, in fact, this Purana is non-sectarian and cosmopolitan in character. Its encyclopedic nature is reflected in the treat- ment of multifarious or miscellaneous subjects such as Medicine, Astrology, Palmistry, Metrics, in addition to the legitimate topics of a Purana. This variety of topics needed elucidation- a task which could not be accomplished by a mere translation. Hence the provision has been made for the footnotes. Further, to help the reader understand the background of the subject matter, an introduction has been added to this Volume. A list of Abbreviations is also prefixed for the convenience of the reader. Acknowledgment of Obligations. It is our pleasant duty to put on record our sincere grati- tude to Dr. S. K. Chatterjee, Dr. V. Raghavan, Dr. R. N. Dan- dekar, Shri K.R. Kripalani and the authorities of the UNESCO for their kind encouragement and valuable help which render this work more useful to scholars than it would otherwise have been. We must also thank Shri T. V. Parameswar Iyer for his valuable spade-work which lightened our labour especially in the initial stage.