Sacrosanct

Agastya who was not at all happy leaving his dearest Kashi was desperate to get there back as soon as possible. But, he knew that his wish was going to remain unfulfilled. While wandering about, he reached Kolhapur where he worshipped goddess Mahalaxmi. When goddess Mahalaxmi appeared, he asked her whether he would ever be able to reach Kashi in his present life. Goddess Mahalaxmi replied—“Your wishes will be fulfilled in the coming nineteenth dwapar, when you would incarnate as Vyas and would contribute a great deal to the propagation of the Vedas and Puranas. There is a sacrosanct place of Kartikeya not very far from here. Go there and pay your obeisance to Lord Kartikeya and he would unravel the mysterious aspects of Kashi to you.”

Sage Agasthya and his wife Lopamudra then went to the mountain called Sri Shail, where Kartikeya lived at that time.

KASHI -THE SACROSANCT PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE

After travelling for sometime, both of them arrived near Sri Shail mountain. Pointing his finger towards the mountain, Agasthya told his wife–‘One, who has a good fortune of seeing the peaks of this mountain, never takes a second birth.’ 

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Lopamudra replied in amazement–‘ If the sight of this mountain was capable of giving salvation then why do you long for Kashi?’ Sage Agastya then went on to clarify that there were many other holy places capable of giving salvation. Prayag is one such place. It is capable of bestowing all the four ‘Purusharth’ on  man viz. Dharma, Arth, Kaam and Moksha.

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Apart from Prayag, there are many more holy places like Naimisaranya, Kurukshetra, Gangadwar, Avanti, Ayodhya, Mathura, Dwarka, Badrikashram, Purushottam kshetra

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Purushottam kshetra / Avanti, Ayodhya, Mathura, Dwarka
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Badrikashram
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which are capable of giving salvation to a man. But none of these places can match Kashi because Kashi is incomparable.

LORD KARTIKEYA DESCRIBES THE MAJESTY OF KASHI

Sage Agasthya and his wife Lopamudra circumambulated Sri Shail Mountain and climbed up Lohit mountain where they found Lord Kartikeya. Both of them eulogized Kartikeya by singing vedic hymns in his praise. Lord Kartikeya was extremely pleased with their devotion and said- O revered sage! You can understand Kashi’s importance by the fact that, though I am capable of reaching any place according to my wish but still, here I am doing this austere penance to attain Kashi. I must confess that I have not been successful in my efforts till date. If any body thinks that he can attain Kashi just by undergoing austerities then he is totally wrong. Kashi can never be attained until and unless one has the blessing of Lord Mahadeva. And one who is fortunate enough to have reached Kashi must under no circumstances leave it till he is alive. O Agastya! You are a blessed one because you had the good fortune of residing at Kashi. Please allow me to touch your body, which has acquired holiness due to its proximity to Kashi.’ Having said this, Kartikeya touched different parts of Agastya’s body as if he were touching the sacred soil of Kashi.

Kashi Khand, containing 100 chapters,  goes on to describe various aspects of Kashi in detail, the various temples and deities as also how they came into existence.

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