Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 94
विघ्नराजादवाच्यां तु दंतहस्तो गणेश्वरः । लिखेद्विघ्नसहस्राणि नृणां वाराणसीद्रुहाम्
vighnarājādavācyāṃ tu daṃtahasto gaṇeśvaraḥ | likhedvighnasahasrāṇi nṛṇāṃ vārāṇasīdruhām
தெற்கு திசையில் விக்னராஜரிடமிருந்து தந்தஹஸ்தன் எனும் கணேஸ்வரர்; வாராணசியைத் துரோகிக்கும் மக்களுக்கு ஆயிரமாயிரம் தடைகளை எழுதித் தீர்மானிப்பார்।
Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Dantahasta Gaṇeśvara (Vighnarāja-sambandha, South of Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Ṛṣi audience / internal Kāśī interlocutors
Scene: Dantahasta Gaṇeśvara stands in the southern quarter with a stylus/ledger motif—symbolically ‘writing’ obstacles for those who harm Kāśī; the city’s sacred skyline is behind him, while shadowy figures representing kṣetra-droha recoil from the protective boundary.
FAQs
Sacred places are protected by divine order; hostility toward Kāśī is framed as adharma that brings self-created impediments.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī) as a city guarded by Vināyaka forms that restrain offenders.
No explicit ritual; the verse states a protective, punitive function of Dantahasta toward enemies of Kāśī.