Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 19
शुश्रूषिताश्च गुरवो बहवो बह्वनेहसम् । महाश्मशानेषु निशा भूयस्योप्यतिवाहिताः
śuśrūṣitāśca guravo bahavo bahvanehasam | mahāśmaśāneṣu niśā bhūyasyopyativāhitāḥ
«J’ai servi de nombreux gurus durant de longues années ; et dans de grands śmaśāna, lieux de crémation, j’ai aussi passé d’innombrables nuits.»
Damana
Tirtha: Mahāśmaśāna of Kāśī (emblematic)
Type: ghat
Scene: An ascetic sits through the night near a cremation ground fire, skulls/bones only symbolically suggested (tasteful), with a distant ghat and funeral pyres; earlier, scenes of serving gurus in an āśrama.
FAQs
Service to gurus and confronting impermanence (through śmaśāna discipline) are portrayed as means to deepen detachment and spiritual seriousness.
While not named, cremation-ground imagery strongly resonates with Kāśī’s liberation ethos (Antyeṣṭi and remembrance of mortality).
No formal rite is prescribed; it references guru-sevā and the ascetic practice of staying in śmaśānas as part of tapas.