Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 63
वृषभध्वजतीर्थं च तीर्थं पैतामहं ततः । ततो गदाधराख्यं च पितृतीर्थं ततः परम्
vṛṣabhadhvajatīrthaṃ ca tīrthaṃ paitāmahaṃ tataḥ | tato gadādharākhyaṃ ca pitṛtīrthaṃ tataḥ param
हे ‘वृषभध्वज-तीर्थ’ (वृषभध्वजधारी शिवाचे तीर्थ) असेही म्हणतात; पुढे ‘पैतामह-तीर्थ’ (पितामहांचे पावन तीर्थ) असे. त्यानंतर ‘गदाधर’ या नावाने, आणि त्यापुढे परम ‘पितृ-तीर्थ’—पितरांसाठीचे तीर्थ—असे प्रसिद्ध आहे।
Skanda (deduced)
Tirtha: Vṛṣabhadhvaja-tīrtha / Paitāmaha-tīrtha / Gadādhara-tīrtha / Pitṛ-tīrtha (as epithets of the same site)
Type: ghat
Scene: A single sacred tank symbolically bearing emblems: Śiva’s bull-banner, Viṣṇu with mace, and offerings for ancestors (tilodaka, piṇḍa) at the water’s edge; the narrator lists names like a litany.
FAQs
Kāśī’s sacred geography unites Śaiva devotion with ancestral rites, showing harmony between deity-worship and Pitṛ-dharma.
The same Kāśī tīrtha is praised under names linked to Śiva (Vṛṣabhadhvaja) and to Pitṛ rites (Pitṛtīrtha).
The verse is nominative (name-giving); it implies suitability for Pitṛ-related acts, but no detailed procedure is stated here.