Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 35
एवंविधे महाक्षेत्रे सर्वदुःखौघहारिणि । प्रत्यक्षं मम यद्वृत्तं तद्ब्रवीमि महामते
evaṃvidhe mahākṣetre sarvaduḥkhaughahāriṇi | pratyakṣaṃ mama yadvṛttaṃ tadbravīmi mahāmate
ഇത്തരത്തിലുള്ള മഹാക്ഷേത്രത്തിൽ, എല്ലാ ദുഃഖപ്രവാഹവും ഹരിക്കുന്നിടത്ത്, ഹേ മഹാമതേ! എനിക്ക് പ്രത്യക്ഷമായി സംഭവിച്ച വൃത്താന്തം ഇപ്പോൾ ഞാൻ പറയുന്നു।
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Mahākṣetra/Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Mahāmati (addressed listener; specific identity not given in the verse)
Scene: A sage/narrator seated near Kāśī’s ghats or a shrine, addressing a ‘mahāmati’ listener; the background shows the vast kṣetra with pilgrims, while a dark ‘flood of sorrow’ motif recedes, indicating the kṣetra’s protective power; the scene signals the start of a story.
FAQs
The Purāṇa frames Kāśī’s glory as experiential and verifiable through sacred narrative testimony.
Kāśī as mahākṣetra, the great liberating field.
None; the verse transitions into a narrative account meant to teach dharma and Kāśī’s māhātmya.