Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 180
अशोकाख्यमिदं तीर्थं गंगाकेशव एष वै । मोक्षद्वारमिदं श्रेष्ठं स्वर्ग द्वारमिदं विदुः
aśokākhyamidaṃ tīrthaṃ gaṃgākeśava eṣa vai | mokṣadvāramidaṃ śreṣṭhaṃ svarga dvāramidaṃ viduḥ
‘अशोक’ नावाचे हे तीर्थच गंगा-केशव आहे. हे श्रेष्ठ स्थान ‘मोक्षद्वार’ असून यास ‘स्वर्गद्वार’ असेही जाणतात.
Skanda (deduced from Kāśīkhaṇḍa narrative convention)
Tirtha: Aśoka tīrtha (Gaṅgā-Keśava)
Type: ghat
Scene: A Gaṅgā-side tīrtha marked ‘Aśoka’: steps descending to the river, a small shrine of Gaṅgā-Keśava, and an ethereal archway labeled ‘Mokṣa-dvāra’ with a second luminous arch ‘Svarga-dvāra’; pilgrims offer lamps at dusk.
FAQs
Approaching Gaṅgā-Keśava at Aśoka Tīrtha is celebrated as a direct threshold to higher destiny—culminating in liberation.
Aśoka-named tīrtha identified with Gaṅgā-Keśava, praised as a mokṣa-dvāra in Kāśī.
No explicit prescription appears; the verse primarily declares the tīrtha’s salvific status, implying pilgrimage and darśana.