Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 17
अर्चिष्मती संयमिनी पुण्यवत्यमलावती । गंधवत्यलकेशी च नैतत्तुल्या महर्धिभिः
arciṣmatī saṃyaminī puṇyavatyamalāvatī | gaṃdhavatyalakeśī ca naitattulyā mahardhibhiḥ
अर्चिष्मती, संयमिनी, पुण्यवती, अमलावती, गंधवती आणि अलकेशी—महान समृद्धींनी युक्त असूनही—याच्या तुलनेच्या नाहीत।
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: A garland of six celestial cities personified as jeweled queens—Arciṣmatī, Saṃyaminī, Puṇyavatī, Amalāvatī, Gandhavatī, Alakeśī—standing with their riches, yet bowing toward Kāśī’s simpler but more radiant sacred presence.
FAQs
Even the most radiant and prosperous divine cities cannot match the unique spiritual rank of the praised sacred locus.
Kāśī is being upheld as superior to famed celestial or otherworldly cities.
None; the verse is comparative eulogy (māhātmya) rather than procedural instruction.