Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 2
कथं च देवदेवस्य प्रियत्वं समुपेयिवान् । काशीवासिजनीनोभूत्कथं वा दंडनायकः
kathaṃ ca devadevasya priyatvaṃ samupeyivān | kāśīvāsijanīnobhūtkathaṃ vā daṃḍanāyakaḥ
اس نے دیوتاؤں کے دیوتا کی محبوبیت اور عنایت کیسے پائی؟ اور وہ کاشی کے باشندوں میں جنم لینے والا کیسے بنا—اور وہ دَṇḍanāyaka، یعنی اختیار و سزا کا حامل، کیسے ٹھہرا؟
Agastya (questioning Skanda, implied by context)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Agastya (Kumbha-sambhava)
Scene: A questioning sage addresses the divine narrator about a kṣetra-protector: how he gained Śiva’s favor, became a Kāśī-resident, and attained the office of Daṇḍanāyaka.
FAQs
Divine favor and spiritual status are portrayed as attainable through dharma and the sanctifying power of connection to Kāśī.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), celebrated as a supremely meritorious sacred abode (sthāna) whose residents are specially sanctified.
No explicit rite is prescribed in this verse; it introduces an inquiry into the causes of merit, Kāśī-vāsa, and divine favor.