Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 55
अधर्मवर्तिनो यस्माद्विघ्नः स्यान्नेतरस्य तु । तस्मात्कं प्रेषयामीशे यस्तं काश्या वियोजयेत्
adharmavartino yasmādvighnaḥ syānnetarasya tu | tasmātkaṃ preṣayāmīśe yastaṃ kāśyā viyojayet
അധർമ്മമാർഗ്ഗത്തിൽ നടക്കുന്നവന്ക്കേ വിഘ്നങ്ങൾ ഉണ്ടാകുന്നു; ധർമ്മനിഷ്ഠന്ക്കല്ല. അതുകൊണ്ട്, ഹേ ഈശ്വരാ, അവനെ കാശിയിൽ നിന്ന് വേർപെടുത്താൻ കഴിയുന്നവനെ ഞാൻ അയയ്ക്കും.
Śiva (Hara / Vyomakeśa), in deliberation before instructing the Yoginīs
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and ṛṣis (frame) / internal audience in the episode
Scene: A deity in counsel, turning from contemplation to dispatch an emissary to remove an adhārmika from the luminous city of Kāśī; the city’s ghāṭas and spires glow in the background as a moral boundary.
FAQs
Obstacles naturally cling to adharma, while dharma carries a protective force—especially in the sacred sphere of Kāśī.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), portrayed as a divinely protected sacred geography that does not easily abandon the righteous.
No explicit ritual is prescribed; the verse teaches ethical qualification (dharma) as the true protection in a tīrtha.