Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 76
नानारूपाश्च पितरो गाथा गायंति सर्वदा । अपि कश्चित्कुलेस्माकं गंगास्नायी भविष्यति
nānārūpāśca pitaro gāthā gāyaṃti sarvadā | api kaścitkulesmākaṃ gaṃgāsnāyī bhaviṣyati
เหล่าปิตฤผู้แปลงกายเป็นนานารูป ขับร้องคาถานี้อยู่เสมอว่า: “ในตระกูลของเรา จะมีใครสักคนหนึ่งได้อาบน้ำศักดิ์สิทธิ์ในพระคงคาหรือไม่?”
Skanda
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (as pitṛ-priya tīrtha)
Type: tirtha
Listener: Interlocutor of the Kāśī discourse
Scene: At a Kāśī ghāṭa, a pilgrim offers tarpaṇa with cupped hands; above the river-mist, Pitṛs appear in many subtle forms—elderly, luminous, semi-transparent—singing a refrain of hope for a Gaṅgā-bathing descendant.
FAQs
Gaṅgā-snāna is portrayed as a lineage-blessing act, desired even by one’s ancestors for the upliftment of the family line.
The Gaṅgā (Jāhnavī) as a bathing-tīrtha—contextually, the Gaṅgā ghats in Kāśī.
Gaṅgā-snāna (bathing in the Gaṅgā) is explicitly praised as a meritorious act connected with ancestral welfare.