Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 35
एवंविधे महाक्षेत्रे सर्वदुःखौघहारिणि । प्रत्यक्षं मम यद्वृत्तं तद्ब्रवीमि महामते
evaṃvidhe mahākṣetre sarvaduḥkhaughahāriṇi | pratyakṣaṃ mama yadvṛttaṃ tadbravīmi mahāmate
في مثل هذا الحقل المقدّس العظيم (mahākṣetra) الذي يزيل سيلَ كلّ الأحزان، يا عظيمَ الرأي، سأقصّ عليك الآن ما جرى لي، ما عرفته معرفةً مباشرة.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Mahākṣetra/Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Mahāmati (addressed listener; specific identity not given in the verse)
Scene: A sage/narrator seated near Kāśī’s ghats or a shrine, addressing a ‘mahāmati’ listener; the background shows the vast kṣetra with pilgrims, while a dark ‘flood of sorrow’ motif recedes, indicating the kṣetra’s protective power; the scene signals the start of a story.
FAQs
The Purāṇa frames Kāśī’s glory as experiential and verifiable through sacred narrative testimony.
Kāśī as mahākṣetra, the great liberating field.
None; the verse transitions into a narrative account meant to teach dharma and Kāśī’s māhātmya.