Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 17
स्कंद उवाच । ओंनमो गंगादेव्यै । ओंकाररूपिण्यजराऽतुलाऽनमताऽमृतस्रवा । अत्युदाराऽभयाऽशोकाऽलकनंदाऽमृताऽमला
skaṃda uvāca | oṃnamo gaṃgādevyai | oṃkārarūpiṇyajarā'tulā'namatā'mṛtasravā | atyudārā'bhayā'śokā'lakanaṃdā'mṛtā'malā
സ്കന്ദൻ അരുളിച്ചെയ്തു—ഓം ഗംഗാദേവ്യൈ നമഃ। നീ ഓംകാരരൂപിണി, അജരാ, അതുലാ; നമിക്കുന്നവർക്കു അമൃതധാരയായി ഒഴുകുന്നവൾ. അത്യുദാരിണി, അഭയദായിനി, ശോകഹാരിണി—അലകനന്ദാ, അമൃതാ, അമലാ।
Skanda
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (Kāśī-sannidhāna)
Type: ghat
Scene: Skanda as narrator offers a luminous hymn to Gaṅgā; the river appears as a radiant goddess arising from Oṁ, flowing past Kāśī’s ghāṭas with a nectar-like shimmer, granting fearlessness and removing sorrow.
FAQs
Reverent surrender to Gaṅgā is portrayed as a direct encounter with purity and nectar-like grace—fear and sorrow are dispelled through devotion.
Gaṅgā in the Kāśī (Vārāṇasī) sacred landscape—praised as the purifying, nectar-flowing divine river central to Kāśī-māhātmya.
No explicit rite is commanded here; the verse emphasizes namaskāra (bowing/salutation) to Gaṅgā as a devotional act.