4.2.107

दिक्पूर्वपदादसंज्ञायां ञः

Operational rule vidhi

The affix ञ comes in the remaining senses after a word preceded by another that signifies 'direction' provided the compound is not a name.

Word by word (padaccheda)

Left context दिक्- पूर्वपदात् pañcamī · ekavacanaRight context अ- संज्ञायाम् saptamī · ekavacanaSubstitute / term ञः prathamā · ekavacana
  • Left context Pañcamī (5th case): "after X", the operation applies to what follows (1.1.67 तस्मादित्युत्तरस्य). Also used for limits and sources.
  • 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").
  • 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

दिक्-पूर्वपदात् अ-संज्ञायाम् ञः

Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.

Commentary

The affix ञ comes in the remaining senses after a word preceded by another that signifies 'direction' provided the compound is not a name.
To a stem, whose first member is a word denoting direction, and which is not a Name, the affix ञ is added, forming the feminine in आ ॥ The word असंज्ञायाम् qualifies the 'base'. This debars अण् ॥ Thus पूर्वशाला + ञ = पौर्वशालः 6.4.148, 7.2.117 'who is in the eastern hall'. Similarly दाक्षिणशालः, आपरशालः ॥

Why do we say "when not a Name"? Observe, from the word पूर्वेषुकामशमी 2.1.50 we have पूर्वैषुकामशमः 7.3.14, The example illustrates how first a compound of Tatpurusha kind is formed by the words पुव + इषु-कामशामी; "Ishukamshami-in-the-East"; the whole being the name of the city. Then when the Taddhita affix is added to this word, the first vowel is not vriddhied, as is the general rule 7.2.117; but the first vowel of the second member of the compound is vriddhied, viz the letter इ of इषुकामशमी by rule 7.3.14. Similarly अपरैषुकामशमः "who is in Ishukamashami-in-the-West".

The word 'पद' is used in the sutra for the sake of percision, for had the sutra been दिक्पूर्वादसंज्ञायां, there would rise the doubt, whether the the word-form दिक् was meant, or words denoting दिक् were meant. In fact the स्वरूपविधि is debarred by the use of the word ॥ For had it meant दिक्; the rule would have applied to words like दिग्गजः &c.

Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.

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