Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 70
प्रयागादपि तीर्थाग्र्यादविमुक्तं विशिष्यते । यथाविमुक्ते निर्वाणं न तथाक्वाप्यसंशयम्
prayāgādapi tīrthāgryādavimuktaṃ viśiṣyate | yathāvimukte nirvāṇaṃ na tathākvāpyasaṃśayam
پریاگ جیسے افضل ترین تِیرتھ سے بھی اوپر اوِمُکت برتر ہے۔ کیونکہ جیسا نِروان اوِمُکت میں ہے ویسا کہیں اور نہیں—اس میں کوئی شک نہیں۔
Skanda
Tirtha: Avimukta (Kāśī)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Interlocutor within the chapter (contextual)
Scene: Avimukta-Kāśī at sunrise: Gaṅgā ghāṭas, Viśvanātha temple spire, pilgrims bathing; above, Śiva’s subtle presence blessing the city, suggesting nirvāṇa as a luminous stillness.
FAQs
Kāśī’s Avimukta is proclaimed the supreme mokṣa-kṣetra, uniquely associated with nirvāṇa beyond even the greatest tīrthas.
Avimukta (the sacred Kāśī-kṣetra of Vārāṇasī), explicitly ranked above Prayāga.
No specific rite; the verse is a definitive sthala-māhātmya claim about liberation in Avimukta.