4.4.60
अस्तिनास्तिदिष्टं मतिः
Operational rule vidhi
The affix ठक् comes in the sense of 'this is whose belief' after the words 1. अस्ति 2. नास्ति and 3. दिष्ट.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Substitute / term अस्ति- नास्ति- दिष्टम् prathamā · ekavacanaSubstitute / term मतिः prathamā · ekavacana
- 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
अस्ति-
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
The affix ठक् comes in the sense of 'this is whose belief' after the words 1. अस्ति 2. नास्ति and 3. दिष्ट।
Thus अस्तिमतिरस्य = आस्तिकः 'who believes that It is' i.e. a here after. नास्तिकः 'whose belief is that there is no Here after', an athiest. दैष्टिकः 'whose belief is that it is fate', a fatalist, दिष्टः = दैव 'fate'.
The affix does not apply in the sense of belief in general, but to a particular sort of belief. Thus परलोकोऽस्ति इति यस्य मतिरस्ति स आस्तिकः, an Astika is he who believes that the Hereafter is. Contrary to him is a नास्तिकः who does not believe in a Hereafter. A person who believes what is demonstrated by proof, and nothing else, may also be called दैष्टिकः 'a positivist'. These various other senses are to be found from dictionary and general literature.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.