Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 74
मात्रा पित्रा परित्यक्ता ये त्यक्ता निजबंधुभिः । येषां क्वापि गतिर्नास्ति तेषां वाराणसी गतिः
mātrā pitrā parityaktā ye tyaktā nijabaṃdhubhiḥ | yeṣāṃ kvāpi gatirnāsti teṣāṃ vārāṇasī gatiḥ
«Те, кого оставили мать и отец, те, кого отвергли свои родные,—те, у кого нет прибежища нигде: для них Варанаси — прибежище.»
Unspecified in snippet (a quoted maxim within Kāśīkhaṇḍa; frame tradition: Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Vārāṇasī / Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Story interlocutor and Purāṇic audience
Scene: A group of forsaken people—an orphan, a cast-out youth, a lone widow—approach Kāśī’s ghāṭas; the city appears as a luminous refuge with Śiva’s presence felt.
FAQs
Kāśī is portrayed as compassionate spiritual shelter—dharma’s refuge when worldly support collapses.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī).
No specific rite; the prescription is pilgrimage/refuge—‘go to Vārāṇasī’ as the saving recourse.