Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 64
दंभ कौटिल्य मायाभिर्यथाधर्मो विनश्यति । तथा नश्यंति पापानि गंगाया दर्शनेन तु
daṃbha kauṭilya māyābhiryathādharmo vinaśyati | tathā naśyaṃti pāpāni gaṃgāyā darśanena tu
De même que le dharma est détruit par l’hypocrisie, la duplicité et la tromperie—de même, en vérité, les péchés sont détruits par la seule vision de la Gaṅgā.
Skanda
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (Kāśī)
Type: ghat
Listener: Sages/pilgrims
Scene: A pilgrim’s first sight of Gaṅgā at dawn from a Kāśī ghat; shadowy figures of hypocrisy/crookedness/deceit crumble like masks falling away as the river’s light fills the scene.
FAQs
It pairs a moral warning (vices destroy dharma) with a tirtha assurance: Gaṅgā’s darśana powerfully dissolves sin.
Gaṅgā—especially as experienced in Kāśī—whose mere darśana is proclaimed purifying.
Darśana (going to see Gaṅgā reverently) is the implied practice.