Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 72
जातो मृतो बहुषु तीर्थवरेषु रे त्वं जंतो न जातु तव शांतिरभून्निमज्य । वाराणसी निगदतीह मृतोऽमृतत्वं प्राप्याधुना मम बलात्स्मरशासनः स्याः
jāto mṛto bahuṣu tīrthavareṣu re tvaṃ jaṃto na jātu tava śāṃtirabhūnnimajya | vārāṇasī nigadatīha mṛto'mṛtatvaṃ prāpyādhunā mama balātsmaraśāsanaḥ syāḥ
ಓ ಜಂತುವೇ! ನೀನು ಅನೇಕ ಶ್ರೇಷ್ಠ ತೀರ್ಥಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮರುಮರು ಜನಿಸಿ ಸತ್ತೆ; ಸ್ನಾನ ಮಾಡಿದರೂ ನಿನಗೆ ಎಂದಿಗೂ ಶಾಂತಿ ದೊರಕಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ವಾರಾಣಸಿ ಘೋಷಿಸುತ್ತದೆ—‘ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಸತ್ತವನು ಅಮೃತತ್ವವನ್ನು ಪಡೆಯುತ್ತಾನೆ’; ಈಗ ನನ್ನ ಬಲದಿಂದ ನೀನು ಸ್ಮರಜಯಿ (ಕಾಮಶಾಸಕ) ಆಗುವೆ।
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya; verse uses direct address)
Tirtha: Vārāṇasī (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Addressed to ‘jantu’ (the embodied being); framed for the listening sage
Scene: A weary soul carrying the burden of many pilgrimages stands before Kāśī personified as a goddess-city proclaiming immortality; behind, Śiva’s Kāma-dahana aspect burns the arrow of desire, transforming the seeker into a serene victor over passion.
FAQs
Pilgrimage and bathing alone may not grant peace; Kāśī is exalted as uniquely capable of granting liberation and mastery over desire through divine power.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī), specifically the doctrine that death there leads to amṛtatva (liberation/immortality).
Snāna (bathing/immersion) is referenced as insufficient by itself; the emphasis shifts to the salvific status of dying in Kāśī.