Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 59
चांडाल उवाच । यावदस्ति मयानीतं विश्वेशप्रीतये वसु । तावत्तुभ्यं प्रदास्यामि विश्वेशस्त्वं यतो मम
cāṃḍāla uvāca | yāvadasti mayānītaṃ viśveśaprītaye vasu | tāvattubhyaṃ pradāsyāmi viśveśastvaṃ yato mama
قال الشاندالا: «كلُّ ما جلبتُه من مالٍ ابتغاءَ رضا فيشفيشا، فبقدره أهبُه لك؛ لأنك أنتَ فيشفيشا لي، سيدي حقًّا.»
Caṇḍāla
Tirtha: Viśveśvara-kṣetra (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A Caṇḍāla devotee speaks with intense devotion, offering all he brought for Viśveśa; he addresses the recipient as ‘my Viśveśa’, collapsing distance between deity and devotee-served saint.
FAQs
Devotion (bhakti) to Viśveśa sanctifies charity, and true reverence recognizes the divine in the worthy recipient.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), through direct invocation of Viśveśa, the city’s presiding Śiva.
Dāna offered with the explicit intention of pleasing Viśveśa—charity as an act of worship.