Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 41
कस्त्वामिह स्तोतुमनंतशक्ते शक्नोति मादृग्लघुबुद्धिवैभवः । प्राचां न वाचामिहगोचरो यः स्तुतिस्त्वयीयं नतिरेव यावत्
kastvāmiha stotumanaṃtaśakte śaknoti mādṛglaghubuddhivaibhavaḥ | prācāṃ na vācāmihagocaro yaḥ stutistvayīyaṃ natireva yāvat
ಹೇ ಅನಂತಶಕ್ತಿಯೇ! ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನಿನ್ನನ್ನು ನಿಜವಾಗಿ ಸ್ತುತಿಸಬಲ್ಲವನು ಯಾರು? ನನ್ನಂತಹ ಅಲ್ಪಬುದ್ಧಿಗೆ ಆ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯ ಎಲ್ಲಿ! ನೀನು ಪ್ರಾಚೀನ ಋಷಿಗಳ ವಾಣಿಗೂ ಅತೀತನು; ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ನನ್ನ ಈ ‘ಸ್ತುತಿ’ ಭಕ್ತಿನಮಸ್ಕಾರಮಾತ್ರವೇ.
Unnamed devotee/praiser
Tirtha: Avimukta-Kṣetra (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A devotee in Kāśī stands before Śiva with folded hands, eyes lowered; the city’s ghāṭas and a liṅga-shrine glow softly, emphasizing the inadequacy of words and the sufficiency of bowing.
FAQs
True devotion is marked by humility: recognizing that the Infinite cannot be contained by speech, one offers reverent surrender instead.
The Kāśīkhaṇḍa frame implies Kāśī’s sacred milieu, but the verse itself is a universal statement about Śiva’s transcendence.
No formal rite; it emphasizes namra-bhāva (humble disposition) and namaskāra (reverent bowing).