Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 54
ते हन्यमाना न्यपतंस्तस्मिन्कुंडे नभोंगणात् । आयुःशेषेण संत्राता हंसीभूतास्तु वायसाः
te hanyamānā nyapataṃstasminkuṃḍe nabhoṃgaṇāt | āyuḥśeṣeṇa saṃtrātā haṃsībhūtāstu vāyasāḥ
As they were being struck, they fell from the open sky into that sacred pond. Saved by the remainder of their allotted lifespan, those crows indeed became swans.
Skanda (deduced, Kāśī-khaṇḍa context: Skanda to Agastya)
Tirtha: Haṃsatīrtha (kuṇḍa)
Type: kund
Listener: Agastya is addressed in the surrounding verses (Kalaśodbhava)
Scene: Crows struck in midair plunge into a radiant pond; upon touching the water they emerge as white swans, wings spread, water droplets sparkling; the pond glows with sanctity.
FAQs
Contact with a powerful tīrtha can rapidly purify and elevate even fallen beings, symbolized by the crow’s transformation into a swan.
The kuṇḍa that becomes famed as Haṃsatīrtha, associated with Kṛttivāsa/Kṛttivāseśvara in Kāśī.
Implicitly, entering/immersing in the tīrtha (snāna or contact with its waters) is presented as purificatory.