There is a segment in Ādiparva (Adiparva) of Mahābhārata (Mahabharata) which deals with the gist of all the major events in their sequential order. This segment, retelling the important points of the epic in one hundred and fifty verses, is known Anukramaṇikādhyāya (Anukramanikadhyaya). This, from a modern perspective, can be called the introductory ‘contents section’ of Mahābhārata. Vyāsa (Vyasa), the poet of Mahābhārata, taught his son this gist first – tato’dhyardhaśataṃ bhūyaḥ saṃkṣepaṃ kṛtavānṛṣiḥ.
anukramaṇikādhyāyaṃ vṛttāntaṃ sarvaparvaṇām
idaṃ dvaipāyanaḥ pūrvaṃ putramadhyāpayacchukam.