Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 55
पिण्याकघृततक्रांबु सक्तूनां प्रतिवासरम् । एकैकमुपवासश्च कृच्छ्रः सौम्यः प्रकीर्तितः
piṇyākaghṛtatakrāṃbu saktūnāṃ prativāsaram | ekaikamupavāsaśca kṛcchraḥ saumyaḥ prakīrtitaḥ
પ્રતિદિન ક્રમે પિણ્યાક, ઘી, છાશ, પાણી અને સત્તુ—એકેક કરીને લેવાં, તથા નિયમિત ઉપવાસ રાખવો—આને ‘સૌમ્ય કૃચ્છ્ર’ તરીકે કીર્તિત કર્યું છે.
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra (general vrata context)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A vrata-observer in Kāśī with five small bowls arranged in a row—oil-cake, ghee, buttermilk, water, roasted barley flour—each labeled by day; the figure maintains a calm, devotional posture near a shrine.
FAQs
Moderate, methodical austerity—rather than extremes—can function as an effective expiation and purifier.
This teaching is embedded in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa’s dharmic instruction set connected to Kāśī’s sanctity.
Saumya Kṛcchra: a day-by-day sequence of piṇyāka, ghṛta, takra, ambu, and saktū, with fasting as part of the regimen.