Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 70
प्रयागादपि तीर्थाग्र्यादविमुक्तं विशिष्यते । यथाविमुक्ते निर्वाणं न तथाक्वाप्यसंशयम्
prayāgādapi tīrthāgryādavimuktaṃ viśiṣyate | yathāvimukte nirvāṇaṃ na tathākvāpyasaṃśayam
तीर्थांमध्ये अग्रगण्य प्रयागापेक्षाही अविमुक्त श्रेष्ठ आहे. अविमुक्तात जसे निर्वाण आहे, तसे अन्यत्र कुठेही नाही—यात संशय नाही.
Skanda
Tirtha: Avimukta (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Interlocutor within the chapter (contextual)
Scene: Avimukta-Kāśī at sunrise: Gaṅgā ghāṭas, Viśvanātha temple spire, pilgrims bathing; above, Śiva’s subtle presence blessing the city, suggesting nirvāṇa as a luminous stillness.
FAQs
Kāśī’s Avimukta is proclaimed the supreme mokṣa-kṣetra, uniquely associated with nirvāṇa beyond even the greatest tīrthas.
Avimukta (the sacred Kāśī-kṣetra of Vārāṇasī), explicitly ranked above Prayāga.
No specific rite; the verse is a definitive sthala-māhātmya claim about liberation in Avimukta.