Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 2
कथं च देवदेवस्य प्रियत्वं समुपेयिवान् । काशीवासिजनीनोभूत्कथं वा दंडनायकः
kathaṃ ca devadevasya priyatvaṃ samupeyivān | kāśīvāsijanīnobhūtkathaṃ vā daṃḍanāyakaḥ
How did he attain the dear favor of the God of gods? And how did he come to be born among the residents of Kāśī—and how, indeed, did he become the Daṇḍanāyaka, wielder of authority and punishment?
Agastya (questioning Skanda, implied by context)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Agastya (Kumbha-sambhava)
Scene: A questioning sage addresses the divine narrator about a kṣetra-protector: how he gained Śiva’s favor, became a Kāśī-resident, and attained the office of Daṇḍanāyaka.
FAQs
Divine favor and spiritual status are portrayed as attainable through dharma and the sanctifying power of connection to Kāśī.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), celebrated as a supremely meritorious sacred abode (sthāna) whose residents are specially sanctified.
No explicit rite is prescribed in this verse; it introduces an inquiry into the causes of merit, Kāśī-vāsa, and divine favor.