Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 46
सर्वरूपा त्वमीशानि त्वमरूपासि सर्वगे । त्वं चिच्छक्तिर्महामाये त्वं स्वाहा त्वं स्वधामृते
sarvarūpā tvamīśāni tvamarūpāsi sarvage | tvaṃ cicchaktirmahāmāye tvaṃ svāhā tvaṃ svadhāmṛte
โอ้พระนางอีศานี พระองค์ทรงมีรูปทั้งปวง แต่ก็ทรงไร้รูป โอ้ผู้แผ่ซ่านทั่วสรรพสิ่ง โอ้มหามายา พระองค์คือจิตศักติ พลังแห่งจิตบริสุทธิ์ พระองค์คือสวาหา และพระองค์คือสวธา โอ้แก่นอมฤต
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: Devī as Īśānī appears half-iconic, half-dissolving into pure light; in the foreground a small sacred fire receives offerings as the syllable ‘svāhā’ rises like flame-script; nearby, water-libations for ancestors shimmer as ‘svadhā’; all merges into a vast all-pervading radiance.
FAQs
Devī is both immanent (all forms) and transcendent (formless), and she empowers both Vedic yajña (svāhā) and ancestral rites (svadhā).
The Kāśī Khaṇḍa setting frames Kāśī as a place where all rites and realizations are fulfilled through the Goddess’s all-pervading power.
Implicitly references fire-offerings (svāhā) and pitṛ-offerings (svadhā), indicating Devī as the sanctifying principle behind both.