Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 24
एकां गां यत्र दत्त्वा वै विधिवद्ब्राह्मणाय वै । लभेदयुत गोपुण्यं कस्तां काशीं त्यजेत्सुधीः
ekāṃ gāṃ yatra dattvā vai vidhivadbrāhmaṇāya vai | labhedayuta gopuṇyaṃ kastāṃ kāśīṃ tyajetsudhīḥ
Sa pook na yaon, kapag ang isang baka ay maayos na inihandog sa isang brāhmaṇa ayon sa ritwal, nakakamit ang kabanalang katumbas ng sampung libong baka—sinong marunong ang tatalikod sa banal na Kāśī?
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa narration, commonly Skanda to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī—Go-dāna (vidhivat)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Pilgrimage audience
Scene: On a Kāśī lane near a temple, a donor ceremonially gifts a decorated cow to a brāhmaṇa priest; the cow is garlanded, with a water-pot and kusa grass; behind, a symbolic vision of countless cows appears as a luminous multiplication of merit.
FAQs
Rightful charity in a supreme kṣetra multiplies merit; Kāśī magnifies dharmic giving into vast spiritual gain.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), celebrated as a place where dāna becomes extraordinarily efficacious.
Perform vidhivat go-dāna—gift one cow properly to a brāhmaṇa—said to grant merit equal to gifting ten thousand cows in Kāśī.