Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 72
क्वचित्तिष्ठन्क्वचिज्जल्पन्क्वचिद्धावन्क्वचित्स्खलन् । क्वच्चिचोपविशंश्चेति बभ्रामेतस्ततो मुनिः
kvacittiṣṭhankvacijjalpankvaciddhāvankvacitskhalan | kvaccicopaviśaṃśceti babhrāmetastato muniḥ
ഒരിക്കൽ നിൽക്കുകയും, മറ്റൊരിക്കൽ സംസാരിക്കുകയും; ഇപ്പോൾ ഓടുകയും, ഇപ്പോൾ ഇടറുകയും; ചിലപ്പോൾ ഇരിക്കയും—ഇങ്ങനെ കണ്ടതിന്റെ വിസ്മയത്തിൽ മുണി അലഞ്ഞുതിരിഞ്ഞു.
Skanda (deduced for Kāśīkhaṇḍa context)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Audience of sages/kathā-listeners (contextual)
Scene: A tapasvī wanders through Kāśī in a sequence-like tableau: standing, speaking, running, stumbling, then sitting—his face alternating between astonishment and tears, with ghats and lanes swirling around him.
FAQs
Sacred encounter can unsettle the ordinary mind—devotional awe may appear as restlessness, yet it is a sign of inner transformation.
The broader Kāśī sacred landscape, where the sage’s movement reflects the pull of a living tīrtha.
None; the verse describes the pilgrim-sage’s state as part of the mahātmya narrative.