Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 2
स्कंद उवाच । निशामय महाप्राज्ञ शंभु प्रावेशिकीं कथाम् । त्रैलोक्यानंदजननीं महापातकतंकिनीम्
skaṃda uvāca | niśāmaya mahāprājña śaṃbhu prāveśikīṃ kathām | trailokyānaṃdajananīṃ mahāpātakataṃkinīm
സ്കന്ദൻ അരുളിച്ചെയ്തു—ഹേ മഹാപ്രാജ്ഞാ! ശംഭുവിന്റെ പുണ്യപ്രവേശകഥ ശ്രദ്ധയോടെ ശ്രവിക്ക. അത് ത്രിലോകാനന്ദജനനി; മഹാപാതകങ്ങളെ ഭീതിപ്പെടുത്തുന്നതുമാണ്.
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Mahāprājña rishi (unnamed here)
Scene: Skanda as narrator addressing a great sage, introducing the awe-filled tale of Śambhu’s sacred entrance into Kāśī; the atmosphere is cosmic—three worlds rejoicing while dark personified sins recoil.
FAQs
Śiva’s presence is depicted as both bliss-giving and sin-destroying—devotion transforms the cosmos and the individual.
The Kāśī Khaṇḍa setting frames Śambhu’s ‘entrance’ as a key event tied to Kāśī’s sanctity, though the precise locality is not named in this verse.
Śravaṇa (devout listening) is implied as the practice—hearing the kathā as a spiritually efficacious act.