Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 9
निजभालतलं कलानिधेः कलया नित्यमलंकरोति यः । स तदीश्वरमप्यतापयद्विधुरेको विपरीत एव तु
nijabhālatalaṃ kalānidheḥ kalayā nityamalaṃkaroti yaḥ | sa tadīśvaramapyatāpayadvidhureko viparīta eva tu
مَن يزيّن جبهته على الدوام بجزءٍ من ربّ الكَلَا، أي القمر—فذلك القمر نفسه، في انقلابٍ عجيب، ألهب حتى سيّده بحرقةِ الأسى.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: Close focus on Śiva’s forehead: the crescent Moon that usually cools and beautifies is shown as strangely ‘heating’ the Lord—an artistic paradox with contrasting cool lunar glow and warm anguish aura.
FAQs
The ‘paradox’ underscores the intensity of Kāśī’s pull: even the Moon—Śiva’s ornament—becomes a cause in the narrative of longing, magnifying Kāśī’s greatness.
Kāśī, as the implied object of separation that triggers this cosmic paradox.
None.