Does gandhari have its own practice?

Not on its own. The secondary channels are worked on through the practices for ida, pingala and sushumna rather than individually.

Why do sources disagree about where it ends?

Because the fourteen-nadi list was assembled from several lineages. Left eye is the common version; left ear appears in a minority of manuscripts.

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Secondary channel

Gandhari

Gāndhārī · गान्धारी

Running just behind ida on the left side of the spine and ending at the left eye. The name is borrowed from the Mahabharata's queen of Gandhara, who blindfolded herself for life on marrying a blind king.

left eye vision left side

Side: Left
Ends at: The left eye
Carries: Visual perception and light-based prana
Runs beside: Ida
Variant termination: The left ear, in some lists
Group: One of the eleven secondary nadis
Sources: Shiva Samhita, Gheranda Samhita, later commentaries

Where it runs

Gandhari is placed alongside ida, slightly behind it, rising from the region of the base of the spine and terminating at the left eye. Where ida governs the cooling breath, gandhari is given the narrower job of feeding vision on that side.

A minority of sources send it to the left ear instead, which is the sort of disagreement the secondary list is full of.

The name

Gandhari is a woman's name from the Mahabharata: the princess of Gandhara who tied a cloth over her eyes on marrying the blind king Dhritarashtra and never removed it. Reading the channel through the story, which the commentaries occasionally do, makes it the nadi of chosen not-seeing.

Whether that reading is intended or retrofitted is impossible to establish. It is at least memorable, which is how these lists were carried.

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Runs beside it

Ida

The lunar channel on the same side.

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Its opposite

Hastijihva

The channel of the right eye.

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Central channel

Sushumna

The axis every other channel is described against.

Frequently asked questions

: Not on its own. The secondary channels are worked on through the practices for ida, pingala and sushumna rather than individually.
: Because the fourteen-nadi list was assembled from several lineages. Left eye is the common version; left ear appears in a minority of manuscripts.

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