Skanda Purana — Kashi Khanda, Shloka 61
पृथक्सांतपनद्रव्यैः षडहः सोपवासकः । सप्ताहेन तु कृच्छ्रोयं महासांतपनः स्मृतः
pṛthaksāṃtapanadravyaiḥ ṣaḍahaḥ sopavāsakaḥ | saptāhena tu kṛcchroyaṃ mahāsāṃtapanaḥ smṛtaḥ
Khi các vật phẩm của Sāṃtapana được dùng riêng rẽ trong sáu ngày, có kèm việc nhịn ăn, thì pháp kṛcchra hoàn tất trong một tuần ấy được gọi là Mahā-sāṃtapana.
Skanda (deduced: Kāśīkhaṇḍa discourse, typically Skanda to Agastya)
Tirtha: Kāśī
Type: kshetra
Scene: A week-long austerity depicted as a sequence of six ritual days with distinct offerings/ingestions, culminating in a composed completion day; the Gaṅgā and ghats frame the discipline.
FAQs
Greater purification is sought through more structured, time-bound austerity, emphasizing perseverance and self-restraint.
Kāśī is the overarching sacred landscape where such dharmic disciplines are taught for inner and outer purification.
Mahā-sāṃtapana: Sāṃtapana substances taken separately across six days, with fasting, completing the observance over a week.