Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 25
कामरूपधरो देवः प्रीयतामिति वादिनी । सा श्रेष्ठाऽप्सरसां मध्ये वसेत्कल्पमिहांगना
kāmarūpadharo devaḥ prīyatāmiti vādinī | sā śreṣṭhā'psarasāṃ madhye vasetkalpamihāṃganā
وہ یوں کہتی رہی: “جو دیوتا اپنی اِچھا سے روپ دھارتا ہے، وہ پرسنّ ہو۔” اپسراؤں میں سب سے برتر وہ ناری وہاں ایک پورے کلپ تک مقیم رہی۔
Skanda (deduced for Kāśīkhaṇḍa narration to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Śaunaka and the Naimiṣāraṇya sages / or a dvija interlocutor (contextual)
Scene: An exalted apsaras, radiant and ornamented, stands in reverent posture within Kāśī’s sacred ambience, uttering a pleasing benediction to the form-assuming Lord; the city’s ghats and temple spires suggest timeless residence.
FAQs
Single-minded reverence and praise of the deity is portrayed as yielding exalted, long-lasting divine status.
The broader frame is Kāśī-māhātmya (Kāśīkhaṇḍa), though this verse itself speaks of celestial reward rather than naming a specific tīrtha.
No explicit rite is prescribed here; the emphasis is on devotional utterance and pleasing the deity.