4.1.46
नित्यं छन्दसि
Operational rule vidhi
The affix ङीष् is always used in the छन्दस् (Vedas) in forming the feminine of the words बहु etc.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Substitute / term नित्यम् prathamā · ekavacanaRight context छन्दसि saptamī · ekavacana
- Substitute / term Prathamā (1st case): in operational rules, the substitute or the thing introduced; in definitions, the term or its referent.
- 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").
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Full reading
नित्यम् छन्दसि
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
The affix ङीष् is always used in the छन्दस् (Vedas) in forming the feminine of the words बहु etc.
Thus बह्वीषु हित्वा प्रपिवन् ॥ Here बह्वी is the name of a herb.
The word नित्य 'always' is used in the aphorism, more for the sake of the subsequent sutra, which it governs than for this sutra. For the word 'optionally' does not govern this, and the aphorism even without the word 'nitya'? would have been a necessary rule and not optional: for आरम्भसामर्थ्यादेव नित्योविधिः सिद्धः, योगारम्भश्चिन्त्य योजनः ॥
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.