Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 1
स्कंद उवाच । शृणु वातापि संहर्तः काश्यां पातकतंकिनी । पद्मकल्पे तु या वृत्ता दमनस्य द्विजन्मनः
skaṃda uvāca | śṛṇu vātāpi saṃhartaḥ kāśyāṃ pātakataṃkinī | padmakalpe tu yā vṛttā damanasya dvijanmanaḥ
സ്കന്ദൻ പറഞ്ഞു— ഹേ വാതാപി-സംഹർത്താവേ! കേൾക്കുക; കാശിയുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട പാപനാശിനിയായ ഈ കഥ കേൾക്കുക. പദ്മകൽപ്പത്തിൽ സംഭവിച്ച ദ്വിജൻ ദമനന്റെ വൃത്താന്തമാണിത്.
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Agastya (implied by epithet 'Vātāpi-saṃhartṛ')
Scene: Skanda as narrator begins a sacred tale: a seated divine teacher in a luminous assembly, gesturing to begin the Kāśī sin-destroying account set in the Padma-kalpa; listeners attentive, with subtle iconography of Kāśī (liṅga, ghāṭa, Gaṅgā) in the background.
FAQs
Sacred narratives linked to Kāśī are presented as purifying—hearing them is itself a dharmic act that dispels sin.
Kāśī is invoked as the central sacred field; the specific tīrtha details unfold in the subsequent verses of this adhyāya.
No explicit ritual is prescribed here; the implied practice is śravaṇa (devotional listening) to a purifying māhātmya.