Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 22
इष्टगंधिः सदैवास्तु सदैवास्त्वतिकोमला । सदैव निर्मला चास्तु सदैवास्त्वतिमंडनम्
iṣṭagaṃdhiḥ sadaivāstu sadaivāstvatikomalā | sadaiva nirmalā cāstu sadaivāstvatimaṃḍanam
Möge sie stets einen lieblichen Duft tragen; möge sie stets überaus weich sein. Möge sie stets makellos rein sein; und möge sie stets höchster Schmuck sein.
Gajāsura
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra
Type: kshetra
Listener: Frame audience (implied)
Scene: Gajāsura blesses the proposed hide-adornment with perpetual fragrance, softness, spotless purity, and supreme ornamentation—turning a grim origin into an auspicious devotional object.
FAQs
Devotion seeks not power but lasting service and beautification of the divine—purity and pleasing qualities are offered to God.
The verse sits within Kāśī Khaṇḍa’s celebration of Kāśī as Śiva’s domain where divine forms and symbols are explained and praised.
None directly; the language resembles devotional ‘saṅkalpa’ (pious wish) for auspicious qualities.