Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 46
सर्वरूपा त्वमीशानि त्वमरूपासि सर्वगे । त्वं चिच्छक्तिर्महामाये त्वं स्वाहा त्वं स्वधामृते
sarvarūpā tvamīśāni tvamarūpāsi sarvage | tvaṃ cicchaktirmahāmāye tvaṃ svāhā tvaṃ svadhāmṛte
يا إيشاني، أنتِ ذاتُ كلِّ صورةٍ ومع ذلكِ أنتِ بلا صورةٍ، يا من تَسري في كلِّ شيء. يا مايا العظمى، أنتِ قوةُ الوعيِ الخالص؛ أنتِ «سفاهَا» وأنتِ «سفدها»، يا جوهرَ الخلود.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: Devī as Īśānī appears half-iconic, half-dissolving into pure light; in the foreground a small sacred fire receives offerings as the syllable ‘svāhā’ rises like flame-script; nearby, water-libations for ancestors shimmer as ‘svadhā’; all merges into a vast all-pervading radiance.
FAQs
Devī is both immanent (all forms) and transcendent (formless), and she empowers both Vedic yajña (svāhā) and ancestral rites (svadhā).
The Kāśī Khaṇḍa setting frames Kāśī as a place where all rites and realizations are fulfilled through the Goddess’s all-pervading power.
Implicitly references fire-offerings (svāhā) and pitṛ-offerings (svadhā), indicating Devī as the sanctifying principle behind both.