Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 35
एवंविधे महाक्षेत्रे सर्वदुःखौघहारिणि । प्रत्यक्षं मम यद्वृत्तं तद्ब्रवीमि महामते
evaṃvidhe mahākṣetre sarvaduḥkhaughahāriṇi | pratyakṣaṃ mama yadvṛttaṃ tadbravīmi mahāmate
अशा प्रकारच्या महाक्षेत्रात, जे सर्व दुःखांचा प्रवाह हरून नेते, हे महामते! माझ्याबाबत प्रत्यक्ष जे घडले, तो वृत्तांत आता मी सांगतो।
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Mahākṣetra/Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Mahāmati (addressed listener; specific identity not given in the verse)
Scene: A sage/narrator seated near Kāśī’s ghats or a shrine, addressing a ‘mahāmati’ listener; the background shows the vast kṣetra with pilgrims, while a dark ‘flood of sorrow’ motif recedes, indicating the kṣetra’s protective power; the scene signals the start of a story.
FAQs
The Purāṇa frames Kāśī’s glory as experiential and verifiable through sacred narrative testimony.
Kāśī as mahākṣetra, the great liberating field.
None; the verse transitions into a narrative account meant to teach dharma and Kāśī’s māhātmya.