1.2.70
पिता मात्रा
Operational rule vidhi
The word पितृ 'father' is optionally only retained when spoken of along with मातृ 'mother'.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Substitute / term पिता prathamā · ekavacanaWith / by मात्रा tṛtīyā · ekavacana
- Substitute / term Prathamā (1st case): in operational rules, the substitute or the thing introduced; in definitions, the term or its referent.
- With / by Tṛtīyā (3rd case): accompaniment or means.
Full reading
पिता मात्रा
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
The word पितृ 'father' is optionally only retained when spoken of along with मातृ 'mother'.
Thus पिता + माता = पितरौ 'father and mother, or parents' or मातापितरौ. The verse quoted under sutra 1.2.68 illustrates this sutra also. There the word pitarau' has been explained by all commentators as "father and mother." The word "ekavad" of the last sutra does not govern this sutra; though the anuvritti of 'optionally' is to be read into this.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.