1.1.55
अनेकाल्शित्सर्वस्य
Meta-rule paribhāṣā आदेशस्थाननिर्णयपरिभाषा
An आदेश which either has more than one letters, or is शित् - replaces the entire स्थानी.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Term / subject अनेकाल्- शित् prathamā · ekavacanaOf सर्वस्य ṣaṣṭhī · ekavacana
- Term / subject Prathamā (1st case): the term being defined, or the subject of the statement.
- Of Ṣaṣṭhī (6th case): "of X". In this kind of sūtra it marks a relation, not a substitution.
Full reading
अनेकाल्- शित् सर्वस्य
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
A substitute consisting of more than one letter and a substitute having an indicatory श् take the place of the whole of the original expression exhibited in the Genitive 6th-Case.
This sutra is an exception to sutra 1.1.52 by which it was declared that an adesa or substitute replaces only the last letter. This sutra on the contrary enjoins that an adesa consisting of more than one letter replaces the whole expression in the genitive case, and not only its last letter. Even where an adesa consists of a single letter, but if it has a श् as its indicatory letter, it replaces the whole word.
Thus, there is a sutra ब्रुवो वचिः 2.4.53 which means 'in the place of ब्रू let there be वच्. Here the adesa वच् consists of three letters (more than one), and therefore, it replaces the whole word ब्रू and not only the last letter ऊ. That is to say in forming certain tenses the verb ब्रू is replaced by वच्. Thus the future tense of ब्रू is वक्ता 'he will speak.'
So also there is a sutra 5.3.3 by which it is declared:-- "In the place of इदम् there is इश्." Here the adesa इ is an adesa having the श् for its indicatory letter, and though it consists of only one letter, it replaces the whole word इदम्, and not only its last letter म्.
Of course, it must be understood that the phrase 'consisting of more than one letter' applies to the actual substitute, and not to the substitute with its indicatory letters, the latter being for the purposes of counting regarded as mere surplusages and not to be taken into account. To see whether an affix is अनेकाल् or not, the indicatory letters must not be counted; and the affix must be stripped of all its इत् letters.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.