Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1087

c8.1087

At the bottom of the nābhi (nābhikanda) innumerable nāḍīs or nerves originate or sprout up. 72,000 such nāḍīs exist at the centre of the nābhi (navel). The whole body is filled with these nāḍīs spread out in parallel and horizontal positions, and they exist in the form of circles entwined with one another. Ten nāḍīs are prominent amongst them, i. e. Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā, Gāndhārī, Hastijihvā, Pṛthā, Yaśā, Alambuṣā, Kuhā and Śaṅkhinī. Any defect or harm caused to any one of these ten nāḍīs may lead even to death.