Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 72
यथात्मविद्या विद्यानां स्त्रीणां गौरी यथोत्तमा । सर्वर्दवेगणानां च यथा त्वं पुरुषोत्तम
yathātmavidyā vidyānāṃ strīṇāṃ gaurī yathottamā | sarvardavegaṇānāṃ ca yathā tvaṃ puruṣottama
جیسے تمام علوم میں آتم-ودیا سب سے اعلیٰ ہے اور عورتوں میں گوری سب سے برتر؛ اور جیسے اے پُروشوتم! تم سب دیویہ گنوں میں سب سے اعلیٰ ہو—اسی طرح یہ مقدّس حقیقت بھی سب پر فائق ہے۔
Skanda
Tirtha: Kāśī (implied) / Gaṅgā-tīrtha (contextual lead-in)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Primary interlocutor of Kāśīkhaṇḍa (traditionally a rishi/assembly; chapter-context dependent)
Scene: A hymn-like tableau: personified Vidyā as a radiant ascetic insight (ātma-vidyā), Gaurī enthroned as the foremost śakti, and Puruṣottama presiding over divine hosts—an allegorical triad culminating in the implied supremacy of the sacred reality being praised.
FAQs
The text ranks spiritual excellences (self-knowledge, divine archetypes) to underscore the unsurpassed greatness of the praised sacred domain.
By the surrounding Gaṅgā-māhātmya context, the superiority being established pertains to Gaṅgā and her tīrtha-status in Kāśī.
No direct prescription; it is a doctrinal praise using theological exemplars.