Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 65
आपः पतिव्रता स्पर्शमभिलष्यंति सर्वदा । अद्य जाड्यविनाशो नो जातास्त्वद्याऽन्यपावनाः
āpaḥ pativratā sparśamabhilaṣyaṃti sarvadā | adya jāḍyavināśo no jātāstvadyā'nyapāvanāḥ
जल सदा पतिव्रता के स्पर्श की अभिलाषा रखते हैं। आज हमारी जड़ता नष्ट हुई; आज हम पवित्र हुए—हाँ, अन्य पावनों से भी अधिक पवित्र।
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Gaṅgā in Kāśī (Kāśī-Gaṅgā)
Type: ghat
Scene: Personified waters (Āpaḥ) rise as luminous female forms from the river, expressing joy that their dullness is destroyed after contact with a pativratā; ghats and lamps suggest Kāśī.
FAQs
True purity is not merely physical; contact with lived dharma (pativratā virtue) is described as supremely sanctifying.
Kāśī’s sacred environment and its purifying ethos are implied through the Kāśīkhaṇḍa setting.
No explicit rite is stated; the verse frames purification (pāvanatva) as arising from contact with virtue.