Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 72
आगत्य दृष्ट्वा मणिकर्णिकायामुदग्वहां स्वर्गतरंगिणीं सः । संक्षीणपुण्येतरपुण्यकर्मणां नृणां गणैः स्थाणुगणैरिवावृताम्
āgatya dṛṣṭvā maṇikarṇikāyāmudagvahāṃ svargataraṃgiṇīṃ saḥ | saṃkṣīṇapuṇyetarapuṇyakarmaṇāṃ nṛṇāṃ gaṇaiḥ sthāṇugaṇairivāvṛtām
तेथे येऊन त्याने मणिकर्णिकेत उत्तरवाहिनी, स्वर्गतरंगिणी गंगेला पाहिले—जिच्याभोवती पुण्य-पाप दोन्ही क्षीण झालेल्या नरसमूहांची गर्दी होती, जणू स्थाणु शिवाच्या गणांनी वेढलेली।
Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Maṇikarṇikā
Type: ghat
Scene: The pilgrim arrives at Maṇikarṇikā: the Gaṅgā glitters with ‘heavenly waves’; dense crowds line the steps; smoke and lamps mingle; the multitude appears like Śiva’s gaṇas encircling a sacred center.
FAQs
Maṇikarṇikā is portrayed as a liberating sacred zone where karmic burdens are brought to exhaustion in the radiance of Kāśī.
Maṇikarṇikā (the famed Kāśī tīrtha/ghāṭa associated with liberation).
No explicit rite is prescribed here; the verse magnifies the tīrtha’s salvific power and its gathered pilgrims.