Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 11
विलसद्धरिचंदनोदकच्छटया तद्विरहापनुत्तये । हृदया हि तयाप्यदूयत प्रसरद्भोगिफटाभवैर्न तु
vilasaddharicaṃdanodakacchaṭayā tadvirahāpanuttaye | hṛdayā hi tayāpyadūyata prasaradbhogiphaṭābhavairna tu
ആ വിരഹം അകറ്റാൻ മഞ്ഞചന്ദനം കലർന്ന ജലത്തിന്റെ തിളങ്ങുന്ന തളിർച്ച തളിച്ചു; എങ്കിലും അതിനാലും അവന്റെ ഹൃദയം വേദനിച്ചു—പക്ഷേ അത് പടർന്ന പാമ്പിൻ ഫണങ്ങൾ കൊണ്ടല്ല।
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Internal audience of the Kāśī-māhātmya narration
Scene: Attendants sprinkle Śiva with a shining spray of water mixed with yellow sandal paste; serpents’ hoods spread as ornaments, yet the ache in his heart remains—an inner longing beyond physical heat.
FAQs
External coolants cannot cure an inner spiritual longing; the verse poetically teaches that Kāśī’s separation is a profound, transcendent ‘heat’.
Kāśī, whose absence is depicted as the true cause of pain.
No formal rite is prescribed; cooling with candana-water is mentioned as a poetic gesture, not a mandated ritual.