शिखी मुंडी जटी वापि कौपीनी वा दिगंबरः । मुमुक्षुः को न सेवेत मुक्तिदां मणिकर्णिकाम्
śikhī muṃḍī jaṭī vāpi kaupīnī vā digaṃbaraḥ | mumukṣuḥ ko na seveta muktidāṃ maṇikarṇikām
سواءٌ أبقى خصلةَ شعر، أو حلق رأسه، أو أطلق الجَتا المتلبّدة، أو اكتفى بمئزرٍ صغير، أو سار عريانًا—فأيُّ طالبٍ للموكشا لا يلجأ إلى مانيكارنيكا، واهبةِ الخلاص؟
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Maṇikarṇikā
Type: ghat
Listener: Śaunaka and sages
Scene: A procession of diverse renunciant types—śikhī, muṇḍī, jaṭī, kaupīna-dhārī, digambara—standing at Maṇikarṇikā ghāṭ with funeral pyres and the Ganga, all gazing toward the mokṣa-giving tīrtha with equal reverence.
External marks of renunciation differ, but the true mumukṣu is drawn to the liberating power of Kāśī’s Maṇikarṇikā.
Maṇikarṇikā tīrtha (Maṇikarṇikā-ghāṭa) in Kāśī (Vārāṇasī).
Not a specific rite—rather the exhortation to ‘sevate’ (resort to/serve) Maṇikarṇikā as a liberating sacred place.