Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 22
प्रभूरुष्टोपि सद्भृत्ये जीविकामात्रहारकः । काशीहरेत्कराद्भ्रष्टा पुरुषार्थचतुष्टयम्
prabhūruṣṭopi sadbhṛtye jīvikāmātrahārakaḥ | kāśīharetkarādbhraṣṭā puruṣārthacatuṣṭayam
Même si un maître s’irrite contre un bon serviteur, il ne lui ôte que le moyen de subsister. Mais si l’on déchoit de Kāśī, Kāśī elle-même arrache de sa main les quatre buts de l’homme : dharma, artha, kāma et mokṣa.
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: A moral tableau: a worldly master angrily dismisses a loyal servant (taking only wages), contrasted with the cosmic personification of Kāśī withdrawing the four puruṣārthas from a heedless pilgrim’s hands; the city’s ghāṭs and Viśveśvara’s aura loom behind.
FAQs
Kāśī is depicted as the support of all four aims of life; abandoning it is portrayed as forfeiting comprehensive human flourishing, culminating in mokṣa.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), praised as the giver and guardian of the four puruṣārthas.
No direct rite is prescribed; the verse gives a strong exhortation to remain devoted to Kāśī.