4.1.177
अतश्च
Operational rule vidhi
In forming the feminine of a word which ends in the masculine in the तद्राजा affix अ , the affix is लुक् elided.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Target अतः ṣaṣṭhī · ekavacanaIndeclinable च avyaya
- Target Ṣaṣṭhī (6th case): names what gets replaced, "in place of X" (1.1.49 षष्ठी स्थानेयोगा).
- Indeclinable An avyaya such as च "and", वा "optionally", न "not".
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Full reading
अतः च
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
In forming the feminine of a word which ends in the masculine in the तद्राजा affix अ , the affix is लुक् elided.
Thus m. शौरसेनः, f. शूरसेनी; m. माद्रः j. मद्री ॥ The word अतः of the sutra should not be construed by the rule of tadanata vidhi (1.1. 72). If so construed it will mean "a Tadraja affix ending in अ is elided". There have been taught five Tadraja affixes, namely 'an अ)', 'an (अ)', 'nyan (य)', 'nya (य)' and 'in (इ)'. Of these the first four all end in अ; therefore all these four affixes should be elided in the feminine. But this is not the meaning of the author; for had it been so, there would have been no necessity of the previous sutra, for then the present sutra would have covered the case of 'Avanti', 'Kunti' and 'Kuru'. But the very fact of this sutra 4.1.176 indicates by ज्ञापक, that the tadanta vidhi does not apply here. Therefore, the feminine of आम्बष्ठ्यः is आम्बष्ठ्या, of सौवीर्यः is सौवीर्या ॥
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.