Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 41
कस्त्वामिह स्तोतुमनंतशक्ते शक्नोति मादृग्लघुबुद्धिवैभवः । प्राचां न वाचामिहगोचरो यः स्तुतिस्त्वयीयं नतिरेव यावत्
kastvāmiha stotumanaṃtaśakte śaknoti mādṛglaghubuddhivaibhavaḥ | prācāṃ na vācāmihagocaro yaḥ stutistvayīyaṃ natireva yāvat
হে অনন্ত-শক্তিধাৰী! ইয়াত তোমাক সত্যকৈ কোনে স্তৱ কৰিব পাৰে? মোৰ দৰে ক্ষুদ্ৰ বুদ্ধিৰ মানুহে কেনেকৈ সক্ষম হ’ব? তুমি প্ৰাচীন ঋষিসকলৰ বাক্যৰো অগোচৰ; সেয়ে মোৰ এই ‘স্তৱ’ কেৱল প্ৰণাম-ৰূপ নতি মাথোঁ।
Unnamed devotee/praiser
Tirtha: Avimukta-Kṣetra (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A devotee in Kāśī stands before Śiva with folded hands, eyes lowered; the city’s ghāṭas and a liṅga-shrine glow softly, emphasizing the inadequacy of words and the sufficiency of bowing.
FAQs
True devotion is marked by humility: recognizing that the Infinite cannot be contained by speech, one offers reverent surrender instead.
The Kāśīkhaṇḍa frame implies Kāśī’s sacred milieu, but the verse itself is a universal statement about Śiva’s transcendence.
No formal rite; it emphasizes namra-bhāva (humble disposition) and namaskāra (reverent bowing).