Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 51
न विश्वनाथस्य समं हि लिंगं न तीर्थमन्यन्मणिकर्णिकातः । तपोवनं कुत्रचिदस्ति नान्यच्छुभं ममानंदवनेन तुल्यम्
na viśvanāthasya samaṃ hi liṃgaṃ na tīrthamanyanmaṇikarṇikātaḥ | tapovanaṃ kutracidasti nānyacchubhaṃ mamānaṃdavanena tulyam
Es gibt keinen Liṅga, der Viśvanātha gleich ist, und kein anderes Tīrtha außer Maṇikarṇikā. Nirgends findet sich ein anderer Wald der Askese (tapo-vana); nichts Heilsames ist meinem Ānandavana, Kāśī, ebenbürtig.
Śiva/Viśvanātha (deduced from ‘mama Ānandavana’—Śiva’s epithet for Kāśī)
Tirtha: Ānandavana (Kāśī) with Viśvanātha and Maṇikarṇikā
Type: kshetra
Scene: A sacred map-like vision: the Viśvanātha shrine as the heart, Maṇikarṇikā as the purifying threshold, and the surrounding city rendered as a verdant ‘Ānandavana’ despite urbanity—trees, hermitages, and subtle divine presence overlaying the ghāṭas and lanes.
FAQs
The verse concentrates Kāśī’s greatness into three pillars: Viśvanātha Liṅga, Maṇikarṇikā tīrtha, and Ānandavana as the supreme sacred landscape.
Maṇikarṇikā in Kāśī and the broader Ānandavana (Kāśī-kshetra), with Viśvanātha at the center.
No direct instruction; the verse serves as a mahātmya statement encouraging worship of Viśvanātha and pilgrimage to Maṇikarṇikā/Ānandavana.