Both are attested, and this is the sharpest disagreement in the fourteen. We give the mouth as the common reading and note the other.

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Secondary channel

Alambusha

Alambuṣā · अलम्बुषा

A channel that ends at the mouth in most lists and at the anus in others. The two readings put it at opposite ends of the body, which makes it the clearest example of how loosely the secondary list was fixed.

mouth speech variation

Ends at: The mouth
Variant termination: The navel and abdomen, in a third reading
Associated with: Taking in and putting out
Related centre: Throat chakra
Group: One of the eleven secondary nadis
Sources: Shiva Samhita, Gheranda Samhita, later commentaries

Two readings

The Shiva Samhita and the Gheranda Samhita both name alambusha, and their commentators send it in opposite directions. In one tradition it rises to the mouth and is grouped with saraswati as a channel of speech and taste. In the other it descends and belongs with shankhini and kuhu.

One way to hold both is to notice that the mouth and the anus are the two ends of the same tube, and that a channel described as running between them would satisfy both descriptions. The texts do not say this, but the commentators have.

A third group of sources, including the tables that circulate from the Shandilya Upanishad, put alambusha at the navel and abdomen and give it a share of digestive and core function. Three readings for one channel is unusual even here.

In practice

Alambusha is not a target of concentration. It appears in the list, gets a termination, and does its work through the practices aimed at the throat and the lower body.

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Shares the mouth