Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 50
इत्थं विलप्य बहुशः स मुनिस्त्वगस्त्यस्तत्क्रौंचयुग्मवदहो अबलासहायः । मूर्च्छामवाप महतीं विरही वजल्पन्हाकाशिकाशि पुनरेहि च देहि दृष्टिम्
itthaṃ vilapya bahuśaḥ sa munistvagastyastatkrauṃcayugmavadaho abalāsahāyaḥ | mūrcchāmavāpa mahatīṃ virahī vajalpanhākāśikāśi punarehi ca dehi dṛṣṭim
یوں بار بار فریاد کرتے ہوئے وہ مُنی اگستیہ—ہائے، کرونچ پرندوں کے جوڑے میں سے ایک کی مانند، ساتھی سے محروم—جدائی کے غم میں بڑی بےہوشی پر جا گرا اور پکارا: “ہائے کاشی، ہائے کاشی—پھر لوٹ آ، اور مجھے اپنا دیدار عطا کر!”
Narrator (explicitly naming Agastya within the verse)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and sages
Scene: Agastya, alone and overwhelmed, collapses in a swoon at the thought of leaving Kāśī; the scene overlays the image of a krauñca bird crying for its lost mate, while the sacred city shimmers in the distance like a receding vision.
FAQs
Love for a sacred place is portrayed as devotional longing; Kāśī is so holy that separation from it becomes a profound spiritual grief.
Kāśī/Vārāṇasī itself, as an object of darśana and devotion.
Darśana-longing is emphasized rather than a formal rite: the devotee prays to behold Kāśī again.