Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 79
यत्र सान्निध्यमेतस्य स्तवस्येह भविष्यति । एतास्तु शक्तयः सर्वा सर्वत्र सहिता मया
yatra sānnidhyametasya stavasyeha bhaviṣyati | etāstu śaktayaḥ sarvā sarvatra sahitā mayā
ਇਸ ਲੋਕ ਵਿੱਚ ਜਿੱਥੇ ਵੀ ਇਸ ਸਤਵ ਦੀ ਸਾਨ্নਿਧ੍ਯਤਾ ਹੋਵੇਗੀ, ਉੱਥੇ ਇਹ ਸਾਰੀਆਂ ਸ਼ਕਤੀਆਂ ਹਰ ਥਾਂ ਮੇਰੇ ਨਾਲ ਏਕਤ੍ਰ ਹੋ ਕੇ ਵਿਦਯਮਾਨ ਰਹਿਣਗੀਆਂ।
Durgā (Devī)
Tirtha: Kāśī (universalized by stotra-sānnidhya)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Implied: gods/devotees; framed for the sage by Skanda
Scene: A luminous, invisible mandala forms around a reciting devotee; multiple śaktis (personified as subtle attendants) gather wherever the hymn is spoken, suggesting a moving sanctuary.
FAQs
Sacred praise is treated as a living conduit of divine presence, not merely words.
Though universal in claim, it is taught in the Kāśī Khaṇḍa, aligning with Kāśī’s theme of ever-present divinity.
Maintaining the stava’s ‘presence’—through recitation, hearing, or keeping it—so Devī’s śaktis abide.