Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 28
अथबालसखी भूत तत्तत्काननवीरुधम् शिवाप्रस्तावयांचक्रे विमुक्तां मुक्तिदां पुरीम्
athabālasakhī bhūta tattatkānanavīrudham śivāprastāvayāṃcakre vimuktāṃ muktidāṃ purīm
मग ती (पार्वती) जणू बालसखी झाल्यासारखी होऊन, नानाविध अरण्ये व वेलीं यांच्या मध्ये, स्वतः मुक्त व मुक्तिदायिनी अशी पुरी—काशी—हिचा विषय काढून वर्णन करू लागली.
Narrator (contextual)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and other ṛṣis (frame, implied)
Scene: Pārvatī, as if a youthful friend, animatedly describes Kāśī amid varied forests and creepers—an enchanting sacred city blending nature and liberation.
FAQs
Kāśī is celebrated not merely as a place of beauty but as a mokṣa-bestowing sacred city.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), explicitly called “muktidā purī.”
No explicit ritual appears; the emphasis is on hearing/reciting Kāśī’s praise as a purāṇic merit-bearing act.