Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 55
अधर्मवर्तिनो यस्माद्विघ्नः स्यान्नेतरस्य तु । तस्मात्कं प्रेषयामीशे यस्तं काश्या वियोजयेत्
adharmavartino yasmādvighnaḥ syānnetarasya tu | tasmātkaṃ preṣayāmīśe yastaṃ kāśyā viyojayet
چونکہ رکاوٹیں صرف اُس پر آتی ہیں جو اَدھرم کے راستے پر چلتا ہے، نیک پر نہیں؛ اس لیے اے پروردگار، میں کسی کو بھیجتا ہوں جو اسے کاشی سے جدا کر دے۔
Śiva (Hara / Vyomakeśa), in deliberation before instructing the Yoginīs
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and ṛṣis (frame) / internal audience in the episode
Scene: A deity in counsel, turning from contemplation to dispatch an emissary to remove an adhārmika from the luminous city of Kāśī; the city’s ghāṭas and spires glow in the background as a moral boundary.
FAQs
Obstacles naturally cling to adharma, while dharma carries a protective force—especially in the sacred sphere of Kāśī.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), portrayed as a divinely protected sacred geography that does not easily abandon the righteous.
No explicit ritual is prescribed; the verse teaches ethical qualification (dharma) as the true protection in a tīrtha.