Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 68
स एकदा संप्रधार्य गृहिण्या लोकदूषितः । जगाम कीकटान्देशांस्त्यक्त्वा वाराणसीं पुरीम्
sa ekadā saṃpradhārya gṛhiṇyā lokadūṣitaḥ | jagāma kīkaṭāndeśāṃstyaktvā vārāṇasīṃ purīm
એકવાર, લોકનિંદાથી દૂષિત થયેલા તે વ્યક્તિએ પત્ની સાથે વિચાર-વિમર્શ કરીને વારાણસી પુરીનો ત્યાગ કર્યો અને કીકટ દેશો તરફ પ્રયાણ કર્યું.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Vārāṇasī/Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and sages (typical Naimiṣāraṇya frame)
Scene: A householder, after conferring with his wife, turns away from the ghāṭas and temples of Kāśī and begins a journey toward the distant Kīkaṭa region; the city’s sacred skyline fades behind him.
FAQs
Publicly censured, the man abandons Kāśī—hinting that separation from a sacred place often follows moral decline and brings further suffering.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī) is implicitly glorified as the sacred city whose abandonment signals loss of spiritual protection.
None explicitly; the verse is narrative, setting up a karmic consequence story connected to leaving Kāśī.