Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 35
अग्निरेको द्विजातीनां निःश्रेयसकरः परः । गुरुर्देवो व्रतं तीर्थं सर्वमग्निर्विनिश्चितम्
agnireko dvijātīnāṃ niḥśreyasakaraḥ paraḥ | gururdevo vrataṃ tīrthaṃ sarvamagnirviniścitam
द्विजांसाठी परम कल्याण करणारा एकमेव अग्निच आहे. तोच गुरु, तोच देव, तेच व्रत व तेच तीर्थ—सर्व काही अग्नीतच निश्चित आहे.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Agni as ‘tīrtha’ (conceptual tīrtha) within Kāśī teaching
Type: kshetra
Scene: Agni enthroned as a radiant deity within a homa fire, with four symbolic emblems around him labeled ‘guru’, ‘deva’, ‘vrata’, ‘tīrtha’; dvija householders stand in reverence, offering oblations.
FAQs
Agni is portrayed as the central sacred principle of Vedic life—teacher, deity, and purifier—leading toward the highest good.
While not naming a single tīrtha, the Kāśīkhaṇḍa context frames Agni himself as ‘tīrtha’ within Kāśī’s sacred ethos.
The verse is doctrinal rather than procedural, asserting Agni’s supremacy as the basis of vrata and tīrtha for dvijātis.