Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 91
यत्र काश्यां शवत्वेपि जंतुर्नाशुचितां व्रजेत् । अतस्तत्कर्णसंस्पर्शं करोम्यहमपि स्वयम्
yatra kāśyāṃ śavatvepi jaṃturnāśucitāṃ vrajet | atastatkarṇasaṃsparśaṃ karomyahamapi svayam
جہاں کاشی میں، لاش کی حالت میں بھی کوئی جیو ناپاکی میں نہیں گرتا؛ اسی لیے میں خود اس کے کان کو چھونے کا عمل انجام دیتا ہوں۔
Śiva (deduced from “I myself touch the ear,” aligning with the Kāśī tradition of Śiva granting the tāraka-mantra at death)
Tirtha: Avimukta-Kāśī (Viśveśvara-kṣetra)
Type: kshetra
Listener: Devotees/ṛṣis within Kāśī-māhātmya frame (traditional: Skanda narrations to sages)
Scene: In Avimukta Kāśī near the cremation ground, Śiva compassionately leans toward a departing being and touches the ear, imparting the tāraka mantra; attendants and lamps glow against the riverine night.
FAQs
Kāśī is so sanctifying that even death does not generate spiritual defilement; divine grace directly guides the departing soul.
Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), especially as the place of Śiva’s liberating intervention at the time of death.
Karṇa-saṃsparśa (touching/ear-contact), understood in tradition as Śiva’s intimate bestowal of the liberating tāraka teaching at death.