Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 24
दक्षिणा राजसूयस्य येन त्रिभुवनं कृता । तपस्तताप योत्युग्रं पद्मानां दशतीर्दश
dakṣiṇā rājasūyasya yena tribhuvanaṃ kṛtā | tapastatāpa yotyugraṃ padmānāṃ daśatīrdaśa
هو الذي جعل دَكْشِنَا (أجرة القربان) لِراجاسويا تشمل العوالم الثلاثة؛ وهو الذي أضرم تَبَسًا شديدًا، تقشّفًا مهيبًا، لعشرِ عشراتِ الألوف من دورات اللوتس، زمنًا لا يُقاس.
Skanda (deduced for Kāśīkhaṇḍa dialogues, commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and sages (typical) / in-text interlocutors of Kāśī-khaṇḍa
Scene: A grand Rājasūya scene with heaps of dakṣiṇā symbolically reaching the three worlds, juxtaposed with an ascetic in fierce tapas amid lotus-cycles of time (kalpa imagery).
FAQs
True greatness is measured by dharmic giving (dakṣiṇā) and sustained tapas, not mere status.
The verse sits within Kāśī-khaṇḍa’s larger Kāśī-māhātmya frame, though this line itself praises a figure’s cosmic merit rather than naming a particular tīrtha.
It alludes to the Rājasūya sacrifice and its dakṣiṇā (mandatory ritual gifting), highlighting charity as integral to yajña.