Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 31
न यत्र काश्यां कलिकालजं भयं न यत्र काश्यां मरणात्पुनर्भवः । न यत्र काश्यां कलुषोद्भवं भयं कथं विभो सा नयनातिथिर्भवेत्
na yatra kāśyāṃ kalikālajaṃ bhayaṃ na yatra kāśyāṃ maraṇātpunarbhavaḥ | na yatra kāśyāṃ kaluṣodbhavaṃ bhayaṃ kathaṃ vibho sā nayanātithirbhavet
کاشی میں کلی یگ سے پیدا ہونے والا خوف نہیں؛ کاشی میں موت کے بعد دوبارہ جنم نہیں؛ کاشی میں آلودگی سے اٹھنے والا ڈر بھی نہیں۔ اے پروردگار، وہ نگری میری آنکھوں کی محبوب مہمان کیسے نہ بنے؟
Pārvatī
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śiva (Vibho)
Scene: A vision of Kāśī as an ‘abhaya’ city: luminous ghats, purified atmosphere, and a devotee gazing with longing—‘guest of my eyes’—while unseen forces of Kali and impurity are rendered powerless at the city’s boundary.
FAQs
Kāśī is extolled as a refuge beyond Kali-yuga’s terrors, promising release from the cycle of rebirth.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), praised as uniquely free from Kali-born fear and post-death rebirth.
No explicit ritual is stated; the verse emphasizes darśana (beholding Kāśī) as a devotional aim.