Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 71
पंचास्यस्त्वथ पंचास्यं मुष्ट्या मूर्धन्यताडयत् । स च तेनैव रूपेण कक्षानिष्पेषणेन च
paṃcāsyastvatha paṃcāsyaṃ muṣṭyā mūrdhanyatāḍayat | sa ca tenaiva rūpeṇa kakṣāniṣpeṣaṇena ca
अथ पञ्चास्यः पञ्चास्यं मुष्ट्या मूर्ध्नि ताडयत्; स च तेनैव रूपेण कक्षानिष्पेषणेन च प्रत्यवरोधयत्।
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa discourse commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Kāśī-māhātmya audience
Scene: Śiva as the five-faced Pañcāsya delivers a decisive fist-strike to the demon’s head, countering the crushing waist-hold; the same manifested form becomes the instrument of reversal and restoration.
FAQs
The Lord meets adharma on its own ground and overcomes it; divine power is not limited by the opponent’s disguises.
Kāśī, through a local mythic confrontation that establishes Śiva’s guardianship over the sacred area.
None; this is a narrative verse within the sthala-mahātmya episode.