Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 77
यदस्ति यद्भविष्यच्च यद्भूतं च सदाशिव । तस्मादेतच्च सर्वस्मात्क्षेत्रमस्तु शुभोदयम्
yadasti yadbhaviṣyacca yadbhūtaṃ ca sadāśiva | tasmādetacca sarvasmātkṣetramastu śubhodayam
हे सदाशिव! जे आहे, जे होईल आणि जे झाले—ते सर्व तुझ्याच अधीन आहे. म्हणून हे पवित्र क्षेत्र सर्व क्षेत्रांहून श्रेष्ठ होवो व शुभोदय देओ.
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta/Ānandavana)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Pilgrimage-seeker audience (traditionally ṛṣi interlocutors in Kāśīkhaṇḍa frames)
Scene: A cosmic benediction scene: Sadāśiva as timeless presence (past, present, future) radiating over Kāśī-kshetra, with the city’s ghāṭas and temples shimmering as the ‘source of auspicious arising’.
FAQs
Kāśī is extolled as a supreme kṣetra whose auspicious power transcends time—past, present, and future.
The Kāśī-kṣetra (Ānandavana), invoked before Sadāśiva.
No specific rite; it is a praise-prayer (stuti) affirming the supremacy of the sacred field.