Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 13
अहो जना बालिशवत्किमेतां काशीं त्यजेयुः सुकृतैकराशिम् । शालूककंदः प्रतिमज्जनं किं लभेत तद्वत्सुलभा किमेषा
aho janā bāliśavatkimetāṃ kāśīṃ tyajeyuḥ sukṛtaikarāśim | śālūkakaṃdaḥ pratimajjanaṃ kiṃ labheta tadvatsulabhā kimeṣā
Weh! Warum sollten die Menschen, wie Kinder, dieses Kāśī verlassen, diesen einen Haufen angesammelten Verdienstes? Gewinnt man eine Lotuswurzel, ohne hinabzutauchen? Ebenso: Ist dieses (Kāśī) so leicht zu erlangen?
Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa frame commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: A river scene: divers plunge into water to retrieve lotus-roots while a narrator points to Kāśī’s ghats, equating the dive with the effort needed to obtain Kāśī’s merit.
FAQs
Kāśī is not casually attained; it is reached through deep merit—so abandoning it is a sign of spiritual childishness.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), portrayed as a rare fruit of accumulated sukṛta.
No explicit ritual; the lotus-root metaphor implies effort, austerity, and merit are required to reach Kāśī.