3.4.37
करणे हनः
Operational rule vidhi
The affix णमुल् comes after the verb हन् 'to kill' when a word in the Instrumental -3rd case is in composition with it.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Right context saptamī · ekavacanaLeft context हनः pañcamī · ekavacana
- Right context Saptamī (7th case): "when X follows", the operation applies to what precedes (1.1.66 तस्मिन्निति निर्दिष्टे पूर्वस्य). Also a condition or domain ("in the sense of").
- Left context Pañcamī (5th case): "after X", the operation applies to what follows (1.1.67 तस्मादित्युत्तरस्य). Also used for limits and sources.
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Full reading
हनः
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
The affix णमुल् comes after the verb हन् 'to kill' when a word in the Instrumental -3rd case is in composition with it.
Thus पाणिघातं वेदिं हन्ति 7.3.32 and 7.3.54 = पाणिना वेदिं हन्ति 'the strikes the Vedi with the hand'; पादघातं भूमिं हन्ति 'he strikes the ground with the foot'. Reading this sutra along with 3.4.48, we find that हन् here does not mean 'to kill', and the further difference between this aphorism and that is, that in the case of this sutra a cognate verb from the same root must be used, as the gerund; not so in sutra 3.4.48; or this sutra may be for the sake of forming Invariable compounds with the upapadas, such as पादघातं ।
According to Patanjali, this affix comes after हन् under this aphorism, even when हन् means 'to injure'; thus counteracting rule 3.4.48, by anticipation, and in opposition to the general principle of interpretation enunciated in rule 1.4.2. Thus असिघातं हन्ति 'he kills with the sword'; शरघातं हन्ति 'he kills with arrows'.
Rule 3.4.46 applies here also, and an appropriate verb from the same root is employed to govern the gerund.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.