Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 83
तीर्थांतराणि कलुषाणि हरति सद्यः श्रेयो ददत्यपि बहु त्रिदिवं नयंति । पानावगाहनविधानतनुप्रहाणैर्वाराणसी तु कुरुते बत मूलनाशम्
tīrthāṃtarāṇi kaluṣāṇi harati sadyaḥ śreyo dadatyapi bahu tridivaṃ nayaṃti | pānāvagāhanavidhānatanuprahāṇairvārāṇasī tu kurute bata mūlanāśam
Other tīrthas do indeed remove impurities at once; they also bestow many forms of welfare and can lead one to heaven. But Vārāṇasī—through the disciplines of drinking its waters, ritual bathing and immersion, and even laying down the body there—truly brings about the wondrous destruction of sin at its very root.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda instructing Agastya)
Tirtha: Vārāṇasī (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣis in Naimiṣāraṇya (frame-tradition) / internal Kāśī-māhātmya audience
Scene: A panoramic Kāśī riverfront: pilgrims sipping Ganga water, others immersed in snāna, and in the background a serene deathbed scene within the kṣetra attended by priests—symbolizing ‘pāna–avagāhana–tanu-tyāga’ as three gates to root-level purification.
FAQs
While many tīrthas grant quick purification and heavenly merit, Kāśī is praised as uniquely capable of eradicating sin at its very root, pointing to liberation-oriented merit beyond mere svarga.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī) is explicitly glorified as surpassing other tīrthas in its māhātmya.
Pāna (drinking sacred water) and avagāhana (ritual immersion/bathing) are mentioned, along with tanu-prahāṇa—relinquishing the body in Kāśī—presented as especially potent acts within the Kāśī-mahātmya.