Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 74
मात्रा पित्रा परित्यक्ता ये त्यक्ता निजबंधुभिः । येषां क्वापि गतिर्नास्ति तेषां वाराणसी गतिः
mātrā pitrā parityaktā ye tyaktā nijabaṃdhubhiḥ | yeṣāṃ kvāpi gatirnāsti teṣāṃ vārāṇasī gatiḥ
جنہیں ماں باپ نے چھوڑ دیا، جنہیں اپنے ہی رشتہ داروں نے رد کر دیا، جن کی کہیں بھی پناہ نہیں—ان کے لیے وارانسی ہی گتی (پناہ) ہے۔
Unspecified in snippet (a quoted maxim within Kāśīkhaṇḍa; frame tradition: Skanda → Agastya)
Tirtha: Vārāṇasī / Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Listener: Story interlocutor and Purāṇic audience
Scene: A group of forsaken people—an orphan, a cast-out youth, a lone widow—approach Kāśī’s ghāṭas; the city appears as a luminous refuge with Śiva’s presence felt.
FAQs
Kāśī is portrayed as compassionate spiritual shelter—dharma’s refuge when worldly support collapses.
Vārāṇasī (Kāśī).
No specific rite; the prescription is pilgrimage/refuge—‘go to Vārāṇasī’ as the saving recourse.