Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 51
न विश्वनाथस्य समं हि लिंगं न तीर्थमन्यन्मणिकर्णिकातः । तपोवनं कुत्रचिदस्ति नान्यच्छुभं ममानंदवनेन तुल्यम्
na viśvanāthasya samaṃ hi liṃgaṃ na tīrthamanyanmaṇikarṇikātaḥ | tapovanaṃ kutracidasti nānyacchubhaṃ mamānaṃdavanena tulyam
وِشوَناتھ کے برابر کوئی لِنگ نہیں؛ منیکرنیکا کے سوا کوئی اور تیرتھ اس کے ہم پلہ نہیں۔ کہیں بھی کوئی دوسرا تپوون نہیں؛ میرے آنندون (کاشی) کے برابر کوئی برکت و شُبھتا نہیں۔
Śiva/Viśvanātha (deduced from ‘mama Ānandavana’—Śiva’s epithet for Kāśī)
Tirtha: Ānandavana (Kāśī) with Viśvanātha and Maṇikarṇikā
Type: kshetra
Scene: A sacred map-like vision: the Viśvanātha shrine as the heart, Maṇikarṇikā as the purifying threshold, and the surrounding city rendered as a verdant ‘Ānandavana’ despite urbanity—trees, hermitages, and subtle divine presence overlaying the ghāṭas and lanes.
FAQs
The verse concentrates Kāśī’s greatness into three pillars: Viśvanātha Liṅga, Maṇikarṇikā tīrtha, and Ānandavana as the supreme sacred landscape.
Maṇikarṇikā in Kāśī and the broader Ānandavana (Kāśī-kshetra), with Viśvanātha at the center.
No direct instruction; the verse serves as a mahātmya statement encouraging worship of Viśvanātha and pilgrimage to Maṇikarṇikā/Ānandavana.