एतदाख्यानशतकं क्रमेण परिकीर्तितम् । यस्य श्रवणमात्रेण सर्वखंड श्रुतेः फलम् । अनुक्रमणिकाध्यायेप्यस्ति यात्रापरिक्रमः
etadākhyānaśatakaṃ krameṇa parikīrtitam | yasya śravaṇamātreṇa sarvakhaṃḍa śruteḥ phalam | anukramaṇikādhyāyepyasti yātrāparikramaḥ
Demikianlah ‘seratus kisah’ ini telah dikisahkan berurutan; dengan hanya mendengarnya saja, diperoleh buah pahala seakan mendengar seluruh bagian. Dan bahkan dalam bab anukramaṇikā (daftar isi) pun yātrā-parikramā turut termuat.
Narratorial/Index-verse (Anukramaṇikā style)
Tirtha: Kāśī-kṣetra (as a whole)
Type: kshetra
Listener: General audience of listeners/reciters; in-frame interlocutors are about to speak (Sūta to Vyāsa).
Scene: A recitation hall: Sūta/Vyāsa-like figure reading from palm-leaf manuscripts; listeners seated; behind them a faint map-like ring indicating parikramā, suggesting that even summary recitation contains the pilgrimage.
Śravaṇa (devotional listening) to Kāśī’s māhātmya is itself a potent dharmic act, promised to yield broad scriptural merit.
Not a single tīrtha; the verse glorifies the entire Kāśī-kṣetra corpus and its pilgrimage-circuit as a unified sacred field.
Śravaṇa (hearing) is praised as merit-bearing; the yātrā-parikramā is indicated as a practice detailed alongside the contents.