Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 97
ब्रह्महत्यां नरः कृत्वा पश्चात्संयतमानसः । प्राणांस्त्यजति यः काश्यां स मुक्तो नात्र संशयः
brahmahatyāṃ naraḥ kṛtvā paścātsaṃyatamānasaḥ | prāṇāṃstyajati yaḥ kāśyāṃ sa mukto nātra saṃśayaḥ
اگرچہ کسی انسان نے برہمن-ہتیا بھی کی ہو، پھر بھی اگر بعد میں وہ اپنے من کو قابو میں رکھے اور کاشی میں پران چھوڑ دے تو وہ مکّت ہے—اس میں کوئی شک نہیں۔
Skanda (deduced; Kāśīkhaṇḍa commonly Skanda speaking to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī (Avimukta)
Type: kshetra
Scene: A penitent sinner, formerly stained by brahmahatyā, now calm and restrained, lies at life’s end in Kāśī; Śiva’s compassionate presence (or light) descends, cutting karmic bonds; attendants chant softly by the Gaṅgā.
FAQs
Kāśī is presented as supremely redemptive: sincere inner restraint and dying there is said to culminate in liberation even for grave sinners.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī/Avimukta), especially the salvific power of death in the kṣetra.
Mental restraint/repentance (saṃyata-mānasa) is specified; no external rite is named beyond the emphasis on Kāśī-maraṇa.