The energy channel Ida - and Idam

Ida and Pingala are the two of the three main naadis (nADi) - energy pathways of the body, the third and central one being Sushumna, which is traced along the spinal cord, up the throat and towards the centre of the head. Ida and Pingala are said to rise up from the left and right of Sushumna, snaking around it. They are cardinal opposites and have opposite properties - feminine and masculine, emotional and rational, cool and hot, moon and sun...

I can never usually remember correctly if Ida is left or right. Till I realized, Idam in Tamil, means left. And Ida is the eft channel. That is an interesting correlation but - correlation does not imply causality. The opposite word for right, is Valam, in Tamil. But the Sanskrit wrd frt he right nadi is Pingala, connoting the colour of the nadi - yellow. So is there a relation between Pingala and the word for yellow in Tamil, Manjal? 

Understanding the ancient crosslinks between languages is a joy in itself, without agenda! Someone asked my famous grandfather which language he liked more, Sanskrit, the language of his worship or Tamil, his mother tongue. He quipped right back at the interviewer, "Which one of your eyes do you like more, the left or right?"

Image credits: Internet