Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 130
महाश्मशानमासाद्य यदि देवाद्विपद्यते । पुनः श्मशानशयनं न क्वापि लभते पुमान्
mahāśmaśānamāsādya yadi devādvipadyate | punaḥ śmaśānaśayanaṃ na kvāpi labhate pumān
جب کوئی انسان مہاشمشान تک پہنچ کر دیوتا کی مرضی سے جان دے دے، تو پھر وہ کہیں بھی دوبارہ شمشان میں لیٹنا نہیں پاتا—یعنی ایسی موت اسے پھر نہیں ملتی۔
Skanda (deduced, Kāśīkhaṇḍa context)
Tirtha: Mahāśmaśāna (Kāśī)
Type: ghat
Listener: Śaunaka and ṛṣis (contextual)
Scene: Night at the cremation ghāṭ: funeral pyres blaze; a departing soul is shown rising toward a calm, luminous Śiva-presence, suggesting release rather than fear.
FAQs
Death in Kāśī’s Mahāśmaśāna is portrayed as spiritually decisive, preventing a return to repeated mortal fate.
Mahāśmaśāna in Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), a famed cremation-ground associated with Śiva’s liberating grace.
No explicit rite is prescribed; the verse emphasizes the salvific significance of reaching Mahāśmaśāna at life’s end.