Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 16
वर्षं कृत्वोपवासानि लभेदन्यत्र यद्व्रती । तत्फलं स्यात्त्रिरात्रेण काश्यामविकलं मुने
varṣaṃ kṛtvopavāsāni labhedanyatra yadvratī | tatphalaṃ syāttrirātreṇa kāśyāmavikalaṃ mune
Wahai resi, buah kebajikan yang di tempat lain diperoleh seorang pelaku vrata dengan berpuasa selama setahun penuh, di Kāśī didapat utuh hanya dengan puasa tiga malam.
Skanda (contextual attribution within Kāśīkhaṇḍa dialogues)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: muni (addressed as ‘mune’)
Scene: Three consecutive nights of fasting in Kāśī: devotees seated on ghāṭ steps with lamps, listening to Śiva-kathā, then offering at a liṅga shrine before dawn.
FAQs
The sanctity of Kāśī accelerates spiritual results: short observances there equal long austerities elsewhere.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), upheld as a place where dharma-practices bear swift, full fruit.
Trirātra-upavāsa—fasting/observance for three nights while in Kāśī.