Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 37
तीर्थानि संतीह पदेपदे हरे तुला क्व तेषां मणिकर्णिकायाः । कतीहनो संति शुभाश्च मंडपाः परंपरोमुक्तिरमाश्रयोयम्
tīrthāni saṃtīha padepade hare tulā kva teṣāṃ maṇikarṇikāyāḥ | katīhano saṃti śubhāśca maṃḍapāḥ paraṃparomuktiramāśrayoyam
يا هري، في هذه الكاشي توجد التيِرثات عند كل خطوة؛ فأيُّها يُقاس بمانيكارنيكا؟ وكم من المندبات المباركة هنا! إن هذا الموضع بعينه ملجأٌ تُنال فيه الموكشا على توالٍ غير منقطع.
Narratorial praise within the Kāśīkhaṇḍa context (Skanda tradition to Agastya implied)
Tirtha: Maṇikarṇikā
Type: ghat
Listener: Hari (addressed as ‘O Hari’)
Scene: A panoramic Kāśī riverfront with countless ghāṭas and maṇḍapas, yet the eye is drawn to Maṇikarṇikā: sacred fires, pilgrims with folded hands, ascetics, and the luminous sense of liberation hovering over the place.
FAQs
Among innumerable holy places, Maṇikarṇikā in Kāśī is proclaimed supreme as a direct refuge for continuous liberation.
Maṇikarṇikā (Maṇikarṇikā-ghāṭa/kuṇḍa) in Kāśī (Vārāṇasī).
No specific rite is prescribed here; the verse primarily extols the site’s inherent power to grant mokṣa.