Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 34
तीर्थस्नानार्थिनी नारी पतिपादोदकं पिबेत् । शंकरादपि विष्णोर्वा पतिरेकोधिकः स्त्रियाः
tīrthasnānārthinī nārī patipādodakaṃ pibet | śaṃkarādapi viṣṇorvā patirekodhikaḥ striyāḥ
La mujer que anhela el mérito de bañarse en un tīrtha debe beber el agua con que se han lavado los pies de su esposo. Pues para la mujer, en el dharma del hogar, el esposo es tenido por más preeminente incluso que Śaṅkara o aun que Viṣṇu.
Skanda (deduced for Kāśīkhaṇḍa context)
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra (contextual)
Type: kshetra
Scene: Inside a modest Kāśī household courtyard: a devoted wife offers water at her husband’s feet; a small lota and copper vessel; in the background, a faint silhouette of Viśvanātha temple spire and Gaṅgā ghāṭ steps, suggesting the ‘tīrtha within the home’.
FAQs
It emphasizes gṛhastha-dharma: for a married woman, devoted service to the husband is presented as a principal religious discipline yielding tīrtha-like merit.
No single tīrtha is named in this verse; it uses the idea of tīrtha-bathing as a benchmark for merit within the Kāśī-khaṇḍa discourse.
Drinking the water from washing the husband’s feet (pati-pādodaka) is prescribed as a devotional act associated with tīrtha-like merit.