Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 36
सामोदमोदकभरैर्वरधूपदीपैर्माल्यैः सुगंधबहुलैरनुलेपनैश्च । संप्रीण्यकाशिनगरीफलदानदक्षं प्रोक्त्वाथ मां क इह सिध्यति नैव ढुंढे
sāmodamodakabharairvaradhūpadīpairmālyaiḥ sugaṃdhabahulairanulepanaiśca | saṃprīṇyakāśinagarīphaladānadakṣaṃ proktvātha māṃ ka iha sidhyati naiva ḍhuṃḍhe
गोड मोदकांचे ढीग, उत्तम धूप-दीप, माळा व सुगंधी अनुलेपन यांनी काशी-नगरीस संतुष्ट करून मी तिला फलदानात परम समर्थ असे सांगितले. मग येथे दुसरी कोणती सिद्धी कोण शोधील? मी तर अन्य काहीही शोधीत नाही.
Skanda (deduced from Kāśīkhaṇḍa context: Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (as kṣetra itself)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Pilgrimage-inquirer (typically a ṛṣi such as Agastya in Kāśīkhaṇḍa frames; exact interlocutor not specified in the verse)
Scene: A devotee in Kāśī offers heaps of modakas, incense, lamps, garlands, and fragrant unguents before a sanctified cityscape—ghats, temples, and the luminous presence of the kṣetra personified as a boon-giver.
FAQs
Kāśī is portrayed as intrinsically capable of granting spiritual fruits; once she is sincerely pleased through worship, seeking other siddhis elsewhere becomes unnecessary.
Kāśī-nagarī (Vārāṇasī), the celebrated sacred city in the Kāśīkhaṇḍa, is directly praised as a giver of results (phaladā).
Offerings and worship-items are listed: modakas (sweet offerings), incense (dhūpa), lamps (dīpa), garlands (mālya), and fragrant unguents (anulepana) used to propitiate Kāśī.