Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 15
सर्ववर्णाश्रमेभ्यश्च वेदविद्भ्यश्च वै तथा । शास्त्रार्थपारगेभ्यश्च गंगास्नायी विशिष्यते
sarvavarṇāśramebhyaśca vedavidbhyaśca vai tathā | śāstrārthapāragebhyaśca gaṃgāsnāyī viśiṣyate
গঙ্গাত স্নান কৰা ব্যক্তি বিশেষ মৰ্যাদাসম্পন্ন—সকলো বৰ্ণ-আশ্ৰমৰ লোকতকৈও, বেদবিদসকলতকৈও, আৰু শাস্ত্ৰাৰ্থত পাৰদৰ্শীসকলতকৈও শ্ৰেষ্ঠ বুলি গণ্য।
Skanda
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (Kāśī)
Type: ghat
Scene: On a Kāśī ghāṭa, diverse figures—brahmacārin, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsin; scholars holding palm-leaf manuscripts—stand beside a simple pilgrim emerging from Gaṅgā; a subtle radiance surrounds the bather, indicating ‘viśiṣyate’.
FAQs
Sacred contact with Gaṅgā is portrayed as an exceptional purifier, surpassing even status and scholarship when approached as tīrtha-dharma.
Gaṅgā-snāna in the Kāśī milieu, exalted as uniquely meritorious.
Snāna (ritual bathing) in the Gaṅgā is the explicit practice praised.