Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 2
मायापुर्यां मुक्तिपुर्यां शिवशर्मा द्विजोत्तमः । मृतोपि मोक्षं नैवाप ब्रूहि तत्कारणं विभो
māyāpuryāṃ muktipuryāṃ śivaśarmā dvijottamaḥ | mṛtopi mokṣaṃ naivāpa brūhi tatkāraṇaṃ vibho
मायापुरी—मुक्तिपुरी—मध्ये द्विजोत्तम शिवशर्मा मरणोत्तरही मोक्षास प्राप्त झाला नाही। हे विभो, त्याचे कारण सांगा।
Lopāmudrā (questioning)
Tirtha: Māyāpurī / Muktipurī (as stated)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Agastya
Scene: Lopāmudrā, brows slightly knit, asks Agastya about a brāhmaṇa named Śivaśarmā who died in a liberation-city yet failed to attain mokṣa; the scene carries a sense of sacred mystery and moral seriousness.
FAQs
A sacred place is not a substitute for inner qualification and dharma; the Purāṇas often probe the true causes behind liberation.
Māyāpurī is called a mukti-purī (city of liberation), invoked to discuss the doctrine of liberation in sacred places.
None; it is a doctrinal question about mokṣa and its causes.