Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 78
इत्थमाश्वास्य तां पत्नीं जगाम तपसे मुनिः । यत्र विश्वेश्वरः साक्षात्काशीनाथोधितिष्ठति
itthamāśvāsya tāṃ patnīṃ jagāma tapase muniḥ | yatra viśveśvaraḥ sākṣātkāśīnāthodhitiṣṭhati
ഇങ്ങനെ ഭാര്യയെ ആശ്വസിപ്പിച്ച് മুনি തപസ്സിനായി പുറപ്പെട്ടു; സാക്ഷാൽ കാശീനാഥനായ വിശ്വേശ്വരൻ അധിവസിക്കുന്ന സ്ഥലത്തേക്ക് ചെന്നു।
Narrator (third-person within Kāśīkhaṇḍa)
Tirtha: Viśveśvara (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Naimiṣāraṇya ṛṣis (frame assumed)
Scene: The sage departs after consoling his wife, walking toward Kāśī’s sacred precincts; ahead rises the Viśveśvara shrine, with Gaṅgā ghāṭs and temple spires, conveying ‘manifest presence’.
FAQs
Austerity becomes fruitful when directed toward Śiva’s living presence; Kāśī is presented as a uniquely potent field for tapas and divine encounter.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), specifically Viśveśvara/Kāśīnātha—Śiva’s supreme presence in the city.
Tapas (austerity) is indicated as the practice undertaken in Kāśī before Viśveśvara.