Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 50
इत्थं विलप्य बहुशः स मुनिस्त्वगस्त्यस्तत्क्रौंचयुग्मवदहो अबलासहायः । मूर्च्छामवाप महतीं विरही वजल्पन्हाकाशिकाशि पुनरेहि च देहि दृष्टिम्
itthaṃ vilapya bahuśaḥ sa munistvagastyastatkrauṃcayugmavadaho abalāsahāyaḥ | mūrcchāmavāpa mahatīṃ virahī vajalpanhākāśikāśi punarehi ca dehi dṛṣṭim
คร่ำครวญอยู่อย่างนั้นซ้ำแล้วซ้ำเล่า ฤๅษีอคัสตยะ—อนิจจา ดุจนกเคราญจะตัวหนึ่งจากคู่ที่ไร้คู่ครอง—ถูกความพลัดพรากครอบงำจนสลบใหญ่ แล้วร้องว่า “ฮา กาศี ฮา กาศี—จงกลับมาอีกครั้ง และโปรดประทานให้ข้าได้เห็นเถิด!”
Narrator (explicitly naming Agastya within the verse)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and sages
Scene: Agastya, alone and overwhelmed, collapses in a swoon at the thought of leaving Kāśī; the scene overlays the image of a krauñca bird crying for its lost mate, while the sacred city shimmers in the distance like a receding vision.
FAQs
Love for a sacred place is portrayed as devotional longing; Kāśī is so holy that separation from it becomes a profound spiritual grief.
Kāśī/Vārāṇasī itself, as an object of darśana and devotion.
Darśana-longing is emphasized rather than a formal rite: the devotee prays to behold Kāśī again.