Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 28
क्षयी च तस्य विषये कोप्याकर्णि न केनचित् । त्रिविष्टपे क्षपानाथः पक्षेपक्षे क्षयीष्यते
kṣayī ca tasya viṣaye kopyākarṇi na kenacit | triviṣṭape kṣapānāthaḥ pakṣepakṣe kṣayīṣyate
त्याच्या राज्यात ‘क्षय’ (ह्रास) अशी गोष्ट कोणीही कधी ऐकलेली नाही; पण त्रिविष्टप स्वर्गात क्षपानाथ चंद्रमा पक्षोपक्षी क्षीण होत राहतो।
Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa context typically Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśīkṣetra (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Audience of the Kāśī-māhātmya discourse (not explicit)
Scene: Symbolic contrast: a serene, ever-luminous Kāśī cityscape with steady lamp-flames; above, the Moon shown in successive phases to indicate inevitable waning, highlighting Kāśī’s ‘non-waning’ auspiciousness.
FAQs
Sacred Kāśī is depicted as free from diminution—its dharmic and auspicious power is steadier than even celestial cycles.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), implied as the ‘non-waning’ holy realm in contrast to the lunar waning in heaven.
None; the verse uses cosmological imagery to praise the exceptional auspiciousness of the realm.