Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 40
वाहीको नामतो यज्ञसूत्रमात्रपरिग्रहः । परिग्रहश्च तस्यासीत्कौविंदी विधवा नवा
vāhīko nāmato yajñasūtramātraparigrahaḥ | parigrahaśca tasyāsītkauviṃdī vidhavā navā
ಅವನ ಹೆಸರು ವಾಹೀಕ; ಅವನಿಗೆ ಯಜ್ಞೋಪವೀತವೇ ಏಕೈಕ ‘ಸ್ವತ್ತು’ವಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಅವನ ಆಸಕ್ತಿಬಂಧವು ನವಯೌವನದ ಕೌವಿಂದೀ—ನೇಯ್ಗಾರ ಸಮುದಾಯದ ವಿಧವೆ—ಅವಳ ಮೇಲೆಯೇ ಇತ್ತು.
Maheśvara (Śiva) (continuing narration)
Listener: Viṣṇu
Scene: Portrait of Vāhīka: sacred thread visible, otherwise impoverished; beside him a young widow from a weaver community—depicting attachment and social transgression as narrative tension.
FAQs
External symbols (like the sacred thread) do not replace inner discipline; unchecked attachment becomes a cause for downfall.
No tīrtha is specified in this verse; it sets character context within the Kāśī-khaṇḍa’s broader holiness-and-liberation theme.
No direct ritual is prescribed; the verse implicitly contrasts mere yajñopavīta with the lived duties of dharma.