Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 38
अपि काश्यां वसेद्यस्तु सर्वाशी सर्वविक्रयी । स यां गतिं लभेन्मर्त्यो यज्ञैर्दानैर्न सान्यतः
api kāśyāṃ vasedyastu sarvāśī sarvavikrayī | sa yāṃ gatiṃ labhenmartyo yajñairdānairna sānyataḥ
যে মানুষ কাশীতে বাস করে, সে যদি সবই খায় ও সবই বিক্রি করে তবু যে গতি সে লাভ করে—তা অন্যত্র যজ্ঞ-দান করেও মেলে না।
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (residential merit)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: A morally ordinary (even flawed) householder in Kāśī—market scenes of trade—yet bathed in the city’s sanctifying aura; in the background, yajña fires and dāna scenes appear smaller, indicating their lesser efficacy compared to Kāśī’s grace.
FAQs
Kāśī’s sanctity is so great that mere residence there yields a spiritual attainment beyond what ordinary rites can secure elsewhere.
Kāśī as a residence-place (vāsa-kṣetra) granting exceptional spiritual destiny.
No prescription; it contrasts Kāśī-vāsa with yajña and dāna, asserting Kāśī’s superior fruit.