Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 6
विषमेक्षण पादाब्जं समीक्षिष्ये यदा पुनः । तदांबुविप्रुषमपि भक्षयिष्यामि चेत्यहो
viṣamekṣaṇa pādābjaṃ samīkṣiṣye yadā punaḥ | tadāṃbuvipruṣamapi bhakṣayiṣyāmi cetyaho
„Wenn ich abermals die Lotosfüße des Ungleichäugigen (Śiva) erblicke, dann—erst dann—werde ich auch nur einen einzigen Tropfen Wasser zu mir nehmen!“ So sprach er.
Jaigīṣavya (vow quoted within Skanda’s narration)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Agastya
Scene: Jaigīṣavya proclaims a severe vow: he will not take even a drop of water until he again beholds Śiva’s lotus-feet; the declaration is intense and devotional.
FAQs
Devotion prioritizes divine darśana over bodily comfort; the devotee’s longing for Śiva becomes the very fuel of tapas.
The immediate focus is Śiva’s darśana rather than a named tīrtha; within Kāśī Khaṇḍa, it implicitly supports Kāśī as a place of attainable darśana.
A vow of extreme restraint: not even drinking a drop of water until beholding Śiva’s lotus-feet again.