Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 79
संसारिचिंतामणिरत्र यस्मात्तं तारकं सज्जनकर्णिकायाम् । शिवोभिधत्ते सहसांऽतकाले तद्गीयतेसौ मणि कर्णिकेति
saṃsāriciṃtāmaṇiratra yasmāttaṃ tārakaṃ sajjanakarṇikāyām | śivobhidhatte sahasāṃ'takāle tadgīyatesau maṇi karṇiketi
ಏಕೆಂದರೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಸಜ್ಜನ-ಕರ್ಣಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಶಿವನು ಅಂತಕಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಹಸಾ ‘ತಾರಕ’ವನ್ನು ಉಚ್ಚರಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ—ಸಂಸಾರಬಂಧಿತರಿಗಾಗಿ ಚಿಂತಾಮಣಿಯಂತೆ—ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ಆ ಸ್ಥಳ ‘ಮಣಿಕರ್ಣಿಕಾ’ ಎಂದು ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧವಾಗಿದೆ.
Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Maṇikarṇikā (Sajjana-karṇikā)
Type: ghat
Scene: Maṇikarṇikā ghat at twilight: funeral pyres glow; yet above the scene, Śiva appears compassionate, whispering the Tāraka into the ear of the departing; the mantra radiates like a jewel (cintāmaṇi) amid the smoke, transforming the cremation ground into a gateway.
FAQs
Liberation in Kāśī is grounded in Śiva’s direct salvific teaching (tāraka) bestowed at death.
Maṇikarṇikā (also referenced as Sajjana-karṇikā), famed as the locus of Śiva’s tāraka-upadeśa.
No human-performed rite is stated; the key act is Śiva’s utterance/teaching of the Tāraka at anta-kāla.