Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 63
स्कंद उवाच । क्षेत्रस्य मैत्रावरुणे विमुक्तस्य महामते । प्रभावस्यैकदेशोयं कथितः कल्मषापहः
skaṃda uvāca | kṣetrasya maitrāvaruṇe vimuktasya mahāmate | prabhāvasyaikadeśoyaṃ kathitaḥ kalmaṣāpahaḥ
Skanda dit : Ô âme magnanime, ceci n’est qu’une parcelle de la gloire du kṣetra sacré de Maîtrāvaruṇa, délivré ; il est proclamé comme celui qui efface les souillures.
Skanda
Tirtha: Maîtrāvaruṇa Kṣetra (as named in the verse)
Type: kshetra
Listener: A ‘mahāmati’ (great-minded interlocutor; traditionally a sage/king in Kāśīkhaṇḍa dialogues)
Scene: Skanda, as narrator-sage, addresses a listener with calm authority, gesturing modestly as if saying ‘this is only one part’; behind him, a symbolic map-like vista of Kāśī’s sacred field fades into the distance, suggesting immeasurable glory.
FAQs
Even a small account of Kāśī’s kṣetra-glory points to its power to purify; the full greatness is beyond brief description.
The Maîtrāvaruṇa kṣetra—an epithet for the liberated/liberating sacred field of Kāśī.
No explicit rite is stated; the verse functions as a mahātmya-summary emphasizing the kṣetra’s purificatory potency.