Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 28
अथबालसखी भूत तत्तत्काननवीरुधम् शिवाप्रस्तावयांचक्रे विमुक्तां मुक्तिदां पुरीम्
athabālasakhī bhūta tattatkānanavīrudham śivāprastāvayāṃcakre vimuktāṃ muktidāṃ purīm
ನಂತರ ಅವಳು (ಪಾರ್ವತಿ) ಬಾಲಸಖಿಯಂತೆ ಆಗಿ, ನಾನಾ ಕಾನನಗಳೂ ಲತೆಗಳೂ ಇರುವ ಮಧ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ, ಸ್ವತಃ ವಿಮುಕ್ತವೂ ಮುಕ್ತಿದಾಯಿನಿಯೂ ಆದ ಆ ಪುರಿ—ಕಾಶೀ—ಯ ವಿಷಯವನ್ನು ಎತ್ತಿ ವರ್ಣಿಸಲು ಆರಂಭಿಸಿದಳು.
Narrator (contextual)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and other ṛṣis (frame, implied)
Scene: Pārvatī, as if a youthful friend, animatedly describes Kāśī amid varied forests and creepers—an enchanting sacred city blending nature and liberation.
FAQs
Kāśī is celebrated not merely as a place of beauty but as a mokṣa-bestowing sacred city.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), explicitly called “muktidā purī.”
No explicit ritual appears; the emphasis is on hearing/reciting Kāśī’s praise as a purāṇic merit-bearing act.