Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 39
क्षेममूर्तिरियं काशी क्षेममूर्तिर्भवान्भव । क्षेममूर्तिस्त्रिपथगा नान्यत्क्षेमत्रयं क्वचित्
kṣemamūrtiriyaṃ kāśī kṣemamūrtirbhavānbhava | kṣemamūrtistripathagā nānyatkṣematrayaṃ kvacit
هذه كاشي هي تجسيدُ الكْشِما (kṣema): الأمان الروحي والهناء المبارك. وأنت أيضاً، يا بهافا (شيفا)، كْشِما متجسّد؛ وتريباثاغا، الغانغا الجارية في العوالم الثلاثة، هي كذلك كْشِما متجسّدة. ولا يوجد في أي موضع «كْشِما ثلاثي» غير هذه الثلاثة.
Brāhmaṇas (addressing Śiva/Hara)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta) with Gaṅgā (Tripathagā)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: A triadic iconography: Kāśī as luminous kṣetra (ghāṭs, temples), Śiva as Bhava/Viśveśvara radiating protective grace, and Gaṅgā as Tripathagā descending through three realms, encircling the city with a halo of kṣema.
FAQs
True kṣema (ultimate security and auspiciousness) is found in the triad of Kāśī, Śiva, and the Gaṅgā—place, deity, and purifying river united as a liberating refuge.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), together with Tripathagā Gaṅgā as the sanctifying presence of the kṣetra.
No explicit rite is prescribed here; the verse primarily establishes the theological-mahātmya claim of Kāśī–Śiva–Gaṅgā as the supreme refuge.