Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 37
तीर्थानि संतीह पदेपदे हरे तुला क्व तेषां मणिकर्णिकायाः । कतीहनो संति शुभाश्च मंडपाः परंपरोमुक्तिरमाश्रयोयम्
tīrthāni saṃtīha padepade hare tulā kva teṣāṃ maṇikarṇikāyāḥ | katīhano saṃti śubhāśca maṃḍapāḥ paraṃparomuktiramāśrayoyam
हे हरि! इस काशी में पग-पग पर तीर्थ हैं, पर मणिकर्णिका की तुलना किससे हो? यहाँ कितने ही शुभ मण्डप हैं; यह स्थान तो ऐसी शरण है जहाँ मुक्ति अविच्छिन्न परम्परा से प्राप्त होती है।
Narratorial praise within the Kāśīkhaṇḍa context (Skanda tradition to Agastya implied)
Tirtha: Maṇikarṇikā
Type: ghat
Listener: Hari (addressed as ‘O Hari’)
Scene: A panoramic Kāśī riverfront with countless ghāṭas and maṇḍapas, yet the eye is drawn to Maṇikarṇikā: sacred fires, pilgrims with folded hands, ascetics, and the luminous sense of liberation hovering over the place.
FAQs
Among innumerable holy places, Maṇikarṇikā in Kāśī is proclaimed supreme as a direct refuge for continuous liberation.
Maṇikarṇikā (Maṇikarṇikā-ghāṭa/kuṇḍa) in Kāśī (Vārāṇasī).
No specific rite is prescribed here; the verse primarily extols the site’s inherent power to grant mokṣa.