Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 75
तं त्वंचोपमिमीषेमुं श्मशानेन महामखम् । धर्मराट्च स्वयं यत्र धर्माधर्मैककोविदः
taṃ tvaṃcopamimīṣemuṃ śmaśānena mahāmakham | dharmarāṭca svayaṃ yatra dharmādharmaikakovidaḥ
پھر بھی تم اس مہامکھ یَجْن کو شمشان سے تشبیہ دیتے ہو؛ حالانکہ وہاں دھرم راج خود حاضر ہے—دھرم اور اَدھرم کی پہچان میں یکتا ماہر۔
Dadhīci (explicitly named as the responding muni in the immediate context at 79; this line continues the reprimand)
Tirtha: Kāśī-Avimukta (śmaśāna-mahātmya frame)
Type: kshetra
Listener: null
Scene: A speaker admonishes a skeptic: behind them, a cremation-ground merges into a radiant yajña arena; Dharma-rāja (Yama/Dharma) stands as a solemn, luminous judge holding a staff or noose, indicating dharma-adharma discernment.
FAQs
A place may look inauspicious externally, yet be supremely sacred when aligned with dharma and divine presence—Kāśī overturns ordinary notions of purity.
Kāśī’s śmaśāna-region (the cremation sacred zone), presented as a locus of dharma rather than impurity.
No direct prescription; the verse corrects a mistaken evaluation of sacred space by invoking Dharmarāja’s presence.