Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 6
कृष्णाः कृष्णेतरा या वै तिथयस्ताश्च सारिकाः । द्विपंचदशमासे यास्त्वक्षयुग्मं तथायने
kṛṣṇāḥ kṛṣṇetarā yā vai tithayastāśca sārikāḥ | dvipaṃcadaśamāse yāstvakṣayugmaṃ tathāyane
The tithis—the lunar days of the dark and bright fortnights—are the game-pieces. The pair of dice corresponds to the two halves of the month, and likewise to the two solar courses called the ayanas.
Nārada
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣis (e.g., Śaunaka-led assembly)
Scene: A cosmic board-game motif: lunar fortnights as pieces, month-halves as dice, and the sun’s north/south courses as the larger arc; Śiva and Devī preside as serene players while Kāśī’s ghāṭs and the Gaṅgā appear as the earthly reflection of cosmic time.
FAQs
Even the smallest measures of time (tithis) participate in sacred order; time itself is a divine instrument within cosmic play.
No single tīrtha is named; the verse sacralizes calendrical time within the Kailāsa narrative frame.
None explicitly, though the calendrical mapping implicitly supports vrata-timing by tithi and ayana.