2.1.28
कालाः
Operational rule vidhi
The words denoting time, being in the Accusative -2nd case, are optionally compounded with a word ending in the affix क्त and the resulting compound is तत्-पुरुष.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Substitute / term कालाः prathamā · bahuvacana
- Substitute / term Prathamā (1st case): in operational rules, the substitute or the thing introduced; in definitions, the term or its referent.
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Full reading
कालाः
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
The words denoting time, being in the Accusative -2nd case, are optionally compounded with a word ending in the affix क्त and the resulting compound is तत्-पुरुष।
This rule applies when duration of time is not connoted by the compound, which is provided for, in the next aphorism. The word for कालाः does not mean here, as it would otherwise mean by Sutra I.1.68, the word- from काल but special words denoting काल.
As मासप्रभितश्चचन्द्रमाः 'the new moon,' (literally, the moon that has begun to measure the month). Similarly, अहस्सङ्क्रान्ताः, रात्रिसङ्क्रान्ताः applied to six Muhurtas (of 48 minutes each) which are called चर and अचर which sometimes occur in day time (in the summer month) and sometimes in the night (in the winter).
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.