Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 18
लोपामुद्रोवाच । श्रीशैलशिखरं दृष्ट्वा पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते । इदमेव हि सत्यं चेत्किमर्थं काशिरिष्यते
lopāmudrovāca | śrīśailaśikharaṃ dṛṣṭvā punarjanma na vidyate | idameva hi satyaṃ cetkimarthaṃ kāśiriṣyate
లోపాముద్ర చెప్పింది—శ్రీశైల శిఖరాన్ని దర్శించినవాడికి పునర్జన్మ ఉండదని అంటారు. ఇది మాత్రమే నిజమైతే, కాశీకి వెళ్లడం ఎందుకు?
Lopāmudrā
Tirtha: Śrīśaila (Mallikārjuna) and Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Agastya
Scene: Lopāmudrā, earnest and inquisitive, gestures as if pointing to distant sacred geographies—Śrīśaila’s peak and Kāśī’s ghats—posing a sharp theological question to Agastya.
FAQs
It raises a classic tīrtha-māhātmya question: how to reconcile multiple liberation-granting holy places within Śaiva sacred geography.
Śrīśaila (its summit) is praised for ending rebirth, while Kāśī is introduced as the comparative pilgrimage destination.
Darśana of Śrīśaila’s summit is the implied act; no other rite is specified.