Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 39
क्षेममूर्तिरियं काशी क्षेममूर्तिर्भवान्भव । क्षेममूर्तिस्त्रिपथगा नान्यत्क्षेमत्रयं क्वचित्
kṣemamūrtiriyaṃ kāśī kṣemamūrtirbhavānbhava | kṣemamūrtistripathagā nānyatkṣematrayaṃ kvacit
ഈ കാശി ക്ഷേമത്തിന്റെ സാക്ഷാത് മൂർത്തിയാണ്; ഹേ ഭവ (ശിവ), നീയും ക്ഷേമസ്വരൂപൻ. ത്രിപഥഗാ ഗംഗയും ക്ഷേമമൂർത്തിയേ; ഇതൊഴികെ മറ്റൊരു ‘ക്ഷേമത്രയം’ എവിടെയും ഇല്ല.
Brāhmaṇas (addressing Śiva/Hara)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta) with Gaṅgā (Tripathagā)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: A triadic iconography: Kāśī as luminous kṣetra (ghāṭs, temples), Śiva as Bhava/Viśveśvara radiating protective grace, and Gaṅgā as Tripathagā descending through three realms, encircling the city with a halo of kṣema.
FAQs
True kṣema (ultimate security and auspiciousness) is found in the triad of Kāśī, Śiva, and the Gaṅgā—place, deity, and purifying river united as a liberating refuge.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), together with Tripathagā Gaṅgā as the sanctifying presence of the kṣetra.
No explicit rite is prescribed here; the verse primarily establishes the theological-mahātmya claim of Kāśī–Śiva–Gaṅgā as the supreme refuge.