Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 64
दंभ कौटिल्य मायाभिर्यथाधर्मो विनश्यति । तथा नश्यंति पापानि गंगाया दर्शनेन तु
daṃbha kauṭilya māyābhiryathādharmo vinaśyati | tathā naśyaṃti pāpāni gaṃgāyā darśanena tu
Wie das Dharma durch Heuchelei, Krummheit und Trug zerstört wird—so werden wahrlich die Sünden schon durch den bloßen Anblick der Gaṅgā vernichtet.
Skanda
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (Kāśī)
Type: ghat
Listener: Sages/pilgrims
Scene: A pilgrim’s first sight of Gaṅgā at dawn from a Kāśī ghat; shadowy figures of hypocrisy/crookedness/deceit crumble like masks falling away as the river’s light fills the scene.
FAQs
It pairs a moral warning (vices destroy dharma) with a tirtha assurance: Gaṅgā’s darśana powerfully dissolves sin.
Gaṅgā—especially as experienced in Kāśī—whose mere darśana is proclaimed purifying.
Darśana (going to see Gaṅgā reverently) is the implied practice.