Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 33
लिंगे चानादिसंसिद्धे यद्वृत्तं तद्ब्रवीमि ते । इतिहासं महाश्चर्यं सर्वपापनिकृंतनम्
liṃge cānādisaṃsiddhe yadvṛttaṃ tadbravīmi te | itihāsaṃ mahāścaryaṃ sarvapāpanikṛṃtanam
उस अनादि, स्वयं-सिद्ध लिंग के विषय में जो वृत्तांत हुआ, वह मैं तुमसे कहता हूँ—यह अत्यंत अद्भुत इतिहास है, जो समस्त पापों का नाश करता है।
Skanda
Tirtha: Ratneśa
Type: kshetra
Listener: Devī (Pārvatī)
Scene: Śiva, poised as narrator, turns to Devī and begins the wondrous origin-story; the Ratneśa liṅga appears timeless, emerging from light, while dark ‘sins’ are symbolically cut away like vines severed by a blade of radiance.
FAQs
Hearing sacred narratives of Kāśī’s ancient liṅgas is itself purifying and spiritually transformative.
The anādi-saṃsiddha Liṅga associated with Ratneśvara in Kāśī’s Avimukta tradition.
Śravaṇa (devout listening) to the itihāsa is implied as a sin-destroying practice.