1.1.24
ष्णान्ता षट्
Definition saṃjñā षट्संज्ञा
The षकारान्त and the नकारान्त words which are referred to as 'संख्या' are also called 'षट्'.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Term / subject ष्णान्ता prathamā · ekavacanaTerm / subject prathamā · ekavacana
- Term / subject Prathamā (1st case): the term being defined, or the subject of the statement.
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Full reading
ष्णान्ता
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
The संख्या-s having ष or न as their final are called षट्।
This sutra defines the term षट् which is a subdivision of the larger group sankhya. Those sankhyas which end in ष् or न् are called षट्. The word sankhya is understood in this sutra, because the word ष्णान्ता is in the feminine gender, showing that it qualifies sankhya which is also feminine.
The numerals that end in ष or न are six, namely पंचन् 'five,' षष् 'six,' सप्तन्, 'seven,' अष्टन् 'eight,' नवन् 'nine,' दशन् 'ten.'
It is one of the peculiarities of षट् words that they lose their nominative and accusative plural terminations 7.1.22. Thus षट् तिष्टन्ति, पंच गच्छन्ति ॥
The word अन्त in the sutra shows that the letters ष and न must be aupadesika i.e., must belong to the words as originally enunciated and not added afterwards as affix &c. Thus in शतानि 'hundreds, सहस्राणि 'thousands,' अष्टानाम् 'of eights' the न is not radical, but an augment, and therefore they are not षट् and the nominative and accusative plural terminations are not elided; as शतान् + इ = शतानि &c.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.