Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 89
मया सृष्टानि विप्रेंद्र भुवनानि चतुर्दश । अस्याः पुर्या विनिर्माता स्वयं विश्वेश्वरः प्रभुः
mayā sṛṣṭāni vipreṃdra bhuvanāni caturdaśa | asyāḥ puryā vinirmātā svayaṃ viśveśvaraḥ prabhuḥ
ഹേ വിപ്രേന്ദ്രാ! എന്റെ দ্বারা ചതുര്ദശ ഭുവനങ്ങൾ സൃഷ്ടിക്കപ്പെട്ടു; എന്നാൽ ഈ പുരിയുടെ നിർമ്മാതാവ് സ്വയം പ്രഭു വിശ്വേശ്വരൻ തന്നെയാണ്.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya; the “by me” may reflect the narrator’s adopted voice in context)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Viśveśvara-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Brāhmaṇa interlocutor (‘viprendra’)
Scene: A cosmic tableau: the fourteen worlds in the background as a subtle mandala, while Viśveśvara stands foreground, ‘architect’ of Kāśī—holding trident, with the city emerging as a sacred diagram around him.
FAQs
Kāśī’s sanctity is grounded in divine authorship: it is presented as Śiva’s own foundation, not a merely human or cosmic construction.
Kāśī/Varanasi, uniquely said to be fashioned by Viśveśvara (Śiva).
No ritual instruction appears; the verse establishes Kāśī’s exceptional origin to intensify devotion and pilgrimage faith.