Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 31
विश्वेश्वर उवाच । त्रिलोक्यां यानि तीर्थानि भूर्भुवःस्वः स्थितान्यपि । तेभ्योखिलेभ्यस्तीर्थेभ्यः शिवतीर्थमिदं परम्
viśveśvara uvāca | trilokyāṃ yāni tīrthāni bhūrbhuvaḥsvaḥ sthitānyapi | tebhyokhilebhyastīrthebhyaḥ śivatīrthamidaṃ param
വിശ്വേശ്വരൻ പറഞ്ഞു— ത്രിലോകങ്ങളിൽ ഭൂ, ഭുവഃ, സ്വഃ എന്നിവിടങ്ങളിൽ ഉള്ള എല്ലാ തീർത്ഥങ്ങളിലുമേൽ ഈ ശിവതീർത്ഥം പരമമാണ്।
Viśveśvara/Śiva
Tirtha: Śivatīrtha (identified as supreme)
Type: tirtha
Listener: (Kāśīkhaṇḍa frame listener)
Scene: Viśveśvara speaks with cosmic authority; behind him, a tripartite vista suggests earth, mid-region, and heaven, all pointing toward the radiant Śivatīrtha as the summit of sanctity.
FAQs
The Lord declares a particular Śaiva tīrtha as spiritually unsurpassed, elevating pilgrimage as a path to purification and grace.
Śiva-tīrtha in Kāśī (the chapter’s featured tīrtha, later named Jñānoda).
The verse is chiefly declarative; it establishes the tīrtha’s preeminence, implying pilgrimage and darśana as key acts.