Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 72
जातो मृतो बहुषु तीर्थवरेषु रे त्वं जंतो न जातु तव शांतिरभून्निमज्य । वाराणसी निगदतीह मृतोऽमृतत्वं प्राप्याधुना मम बलात्स्मरशासनः स्याः
jāto mṛto bahuṣu tīrthavareṣu re tvaṃ jaṃto na jātu tava śāṃtirabhūnnimajya | vārāṇasī nigadatīha mṛto'mṛtatvaṃ prāpyādhunā mama balātsmaraśāsanaḥ syāḥ
Geboren und gestorben immer wieder an vielen erhabenen Tīrthas, o Wesen—doch niemals fandest du Frieden, selbst nicht nach dem Untertauchen im Bad. Vārāṇasī aber verkündet: „Wer hier stirbt, erlangt Unsterblichkeit“; und nun wirst du durch meine Kraft zum Bezwinger Kāmas, der Leidenschaft.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya; verse uses direct address)
Tirtha: Vārāṇasī (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Addressed to ‘jantu’ (the embodied being); framed for the listening sage
Scene: A weary soul carrying the burden of many pilgrimages stands before Kāśī personified as a goddess-city proclaiming immortality; behind, Śiva’s Kāma-dahana aspect burns the arrow of desire, transforming the seeker into a serene victor over passion.
FAQs
Pilgrimage and bathing alone may not grant peace; Kāśī is exalted as uniquely capable of granting liberation and mastery over desire through divine power.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī), specifically the doctrine that death there leads to amṛtatva (liberation/immortality).
Snāna (bathing/immersion) is referenced as insufficient by itself; the emphasis shifts to the salvific status of dying in Kāśī.