4.2.24
सास्य देवता
Operational rule vidhi
To indicate an entity by referring to its god, an appropriate तद्धित प्रत्यय can be attached to the प्रथमासमर्थ word representing the name of the god.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Substitute / term सा prathamā · ekavacanaTarget अस्य ṣaṣṭhī · ekavacanaSubstitute / term देवता prathamā · ekavacana
- Substitute / term Prathamā (1st case): in operational rules, the substitute or the thing introduced; in definitions, the term or its referent.
- Target Ṣaṣṭhī (6th case): names what gets replaced, "in place of X" (1.1.49 षष्ठी स्थानेयोगा).
Dotted words are technical terms. Hover or tap one to see its card.
Full reading
सा अस्य देवता
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
अस्य → सा देवता
Replace asya with sā devatā. Inherited words (anuvṛtti) may add further conditions.
Commentary
The affix अण् -- प्राग्दीव्यतोऽण् 4.1.83, is added to the name of a deity when something is to be spoken of as his.
सा = 'after a word in the Ist case in construction' अस्य 'in the sense of a sixth case'. देवता 'if the word in the first case is the name of a deity'. Thus इन्द्रो देवताऽस्य = ऐन्द्रम् 'oblation sacred to Indra'. Similarly आदित्यम् 'oblation belonging to Aditya'. So also बार्हस्पत्यम्, प्राजापत्यम् ॥ Why do we say "after the name of a deity"? Observe, कन्यादेवताऽस्य, no affix is added to कन्या ॥ In the sentences ऐन्द्रोमन्त्राः and आग्नेयो वै ब्रह्मणोदेवतयेति the affix is added by analogy.
The whole phrase साऽस्य देवता governs up to sutra 4.2.35. Though the word स was understood in this sutra by anuvritti from sutra 4.2.21, its repetition is for the sake of indicating that the anuvritti of संज्ञा does not extend to it. The affix ordained by this sutra has the force of indicating 'lord of oblations like Purodasa &c offered in a sacrifice'.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.