Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 99
श्रुताभिलषिता दृष्टा स्पृष्टा पीताऽवगाहिता । पुंसां वंशद्वयं गंगा तारयेन्नात्र संशयः
śrutābhilaṣitā dṛṣṭā spṛṣṭā pītā'vagāhitā | puṃsāṃ vaṃśadvayaṃ gaṃgā tārayennātra saṃśayaḥ
گنگا کا نام سننا، اس کی آرزو کرنا، دیدار کرنا، چھونا، اس کا جل پینا یا اس میں اتر کر اسنان کرنا—یہ سب کرنے سے گنگا مرد کی دونوں نسلوں (پدری و مادری) کو پار لگا دیتی ہے؛ اس میں کوئی شک نہیں۔
Skanda
Tirtha: Gaṅgā (Bhāgīrathī/Jāhnavī)
Type: ghat
Listener: null
Scene: A sequence tableau along Kāśī ghats: (1) sages reciting Gaṅgā-glory to listeners (śravaṇa), (2) a devotee yearning with folded hands (abhilaṣa), (3) pilgrims seeing the river at sunrise (darśana), (4) touching water (sparśa), (5) sipping from cupped palms (pāna), (6) bathing (avagāhana); behind them, ancestral silhouettes are lifted upward in light, signifying deliverance of both lineages.
FAQs
Even minimal contact or devotion to Gaṅgā—through hearing to bathing—has salvific power extending beyond the individual to ancestors.
Gaṅgā-tīrtha, especially as encountered in Kāśī through darśana, sparśa, pāna, and snāna.
Darśana (seeing), sparśa (touching), pāna (drinking), and avagāha (bathing/immersion) in Gaṅgā are explicitly listed.