Skandapurana 2.4.4.4.3

2.4.4.4.3

cakrakṣetraṃ tataḥ puṇyaṃ muktikṣetraṃ tato'dhikam .. 29 ..
avaṃtikā tataḥ śreṣṭhā tato badarikāśramaḥ ..
ayodhyā ca tataḥ śreṣṭhā gaṃgādvāraṃ tato'dhikam .. 2.4.4.30 ..
tataḥ kanakhalaṃ tīrthaṃ tato madhupurī varā ..
eko'pi kārtiko māso mathurāyamunājale .. .. 31 ..
yaiḥ snātaste tu vaikuṃṭhe bahukālaṃ vasaṃti hi ..
rādhādāmodarastatra svayaṃ snātastu kārtike .. 32 ..
ato madhupurī śreṣṭhā yamunā ca viśeṣataḥ .. 33 ..
dvārāvatī tataḥ śreṣṭhā pratyahaṃ snāti keśavaḥ ..
ṣoḍaśastrīsahasreṇa sārddhaṃ yādavasaṃyutaḥ .. 34 ..
dvārakāyāṃ mṛttikāyāstilako yena mastake ..
dhāryate'sau naro jñeyo jīvanmukto na saṃśayaḥ ..
dvārakāsnānamāhātmyaṃ na vaktuṃ śakyate mayā .. 35 ..
goviṃdārpitacittānāṃ jāyate puṇyabhāskarā ..
tato bhāgīrathī śreṣṭhā yatra viṃdhyena saṃgatā .. 36 ..
tasmāddaśaguṇaṃ puṇyaṃ tīrtharāje'tra jāyate .. 37 ..
kalau daśasahasrāṃ'te viṣṇustyakṣyati medinīm..
tadarddhaṃ jāhnavītoyaṃ tadardhaṃ devatāgaṇāḥ .. 38 ..
yāvattiṣṭhati gaṃgā'tra tāvattīrthāni saṃti ca ..
svasvasthāne nṛṇāṃ pāpaṃ tāvadeva haraṃti ca .. 39 ..
yadaiva gaṃgā naṣṭā syātko vā tatpāpamāharet ..
vicāryaivaṃ sutīrthāni gamiṣyaṃti dharātale .. 2.4.4.40 ..
tasmānmunīśvarāḥ sarve yāvattiṣṭhati jāhnavī ..
tāvacca kriyatāṃ dharmastato bhūmau nilīyatām .. 41 ..
samādhiṃ gṛhya sudṛḍhāṃ yāvatkṛtayugaṃ bhavet ..
anyathā kalikālena bhraṃśanīyo bhavetsudhīḥ .. 42 ..
tataḥ śreṣṭhatarā kāśī yasyā nāśo na jāyate ..
yadāśrayeṇa gaṃgāpi sarvapāpaṃ vyapohati .. 43 ..
kāśikāyā naiva nāśo brahmaṇyapi mṛte sati ..

Cakrakṣetra is more meritorious than that, and Muktikṣetra is higher than that; / Avantikā is better than that, and Badarikāśrama is beyond that; / Ayodhyā is better than that, and Gaṅgādvāra is higher than that; / Kanakhala tīrtha is beyond that, and superior to that is Madhupurī. / Even for a single month of Kārtika in the waters of the Yamunā at Mathurā, / those who bathe indeed dwell in Vaikuṇṭha for a long time. / Rādhādāmodara himself bathed there in Kārtika; / therefore Madhupurī is supreme, and especially the Yamunā. / Dvārāvatī is even better than that; there Keśava bathes every day, / accompanied by sixteen thousand women together with the Yādavas. / The man who wears on his forehead a tilaka made from the clay of Dvārakā / is to be recognized as liberated while alive; there is no doubt. / The māhātmya of bathing at Dvārakā cannot be fully told by me; / for those whose minds are offered to Govinda, it shines like the sun of merit. / Superior to that is the Bhāgīrathī where she unites with the Vindhya; / ten times the merit of that arises here in the King of Tīrthas. / At the end of ten thousand [years] of the Kali age, Viṣṇu will abandon the earth; / at half that [time], the waters of Jāhnavī, and at half that [time], the hosts of deities. / As long as the Gaṅgā remains here, so long do the tīrthas exist, / and just so long do they take away the sin of men each in its own place. / When the Gaṅgā is lost, who indeed will take away that sin? / Considering thus, the excellent tīrthas will depart from the surface of the earth. / Therefore, O chief sages, as long as the Jāhnavī remains, / so long let dharma be practiced; thereafter let one withdraw into the earth, / having assumed a very firm samādhi, until the Kṛtayuga comes. / Otherwise, the wise man would be brought to ruin by the age of Kali. / Greater than that is Kāśī, of which no destruction takes place; / taking refuge in which, even the Gaṅgā washes away all sin. / There is no destruction of Kāśī even when Brahmā has died.