Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 18
स्थावराः कृमयोऽब्जाश्च पक्षिणः पशवो नराः । क्रमेण धार्मिकास्त्वेते ह्येतेभ्यो धार्मिकाः सुराः
sthāvarāḥ kṛmayo'bjāśca pakṣiṇaḥ paśavo narāḥ | krameṇa dhārmikāstvete hyetebhyo dhārmikāḥ surāḥ
Unbewegtes, Würmer, im Wasser Geborene, Vögel, Tiere und Menschen — in dieser Reihenfolge wächst ihre Befähigung zum Dharma; und höher als sie in dharmischer Kraft stehen die Götter.
Skanda
Tirtha: Avimukta-kṣetra (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Kumbhaja (Agastya)
Scene: A didactic tableau: a sage in Kāśī enumerates beings—trees and mountains, worms, fish, birds, animals, humans—ascending toward luminous devas above, suggesting a moral-cosmic ladder.
FAQs
It frames dharma as increasingly accessible with higher forms of life, underscoring the responsibility that comes with human birth.
Kāśī indirectly, as the doctrinal setting where dharma is taught as preparation for liberation in the sacred city.
None explicitly; it is a doctrinal classification supporting the call to live dharmically.