अप्लुतवदुपस्थिते

Before the word इति in the पदपाठ , a प्लुत vowel is treated like an ordinary अप्लुत vowel.
The word उपस्थित means the affixing of इति in non-Rishi texts; i, e. when a Vedic text is split up into its various padas or words and इति is added. That is in Padapatha, the Pluta is treated like an ordinary vowel, and hence there being no प्रकृतिभाव 6.1.125, there is sandhi. Thus सुश्लोका ३ इति = सुश्लोकेति, सुमङ्गला इति = सुमंगलेति ॥ Why have we used the word वत् "like as"; instead of saying "the Pluta becomes Apluta" why do we say "Pluta is treated like apluta"? By not using वत्, the whole Pluta itself would be changed into Apluta, and would give rise to the following incongruity. There is prakriti bhava in the case of pluta and pragrihya. A vowel which is pluta need not be pragrihya, nor a pragrihya, a pluta. But where a vowel is both a pluta and a pragrihya at one and the sametime, there will arise the difficulty. Thus in the dual अग्नी or वायू, the इ and ऊ are pragrihya. They may be made pluta also as अग्ना ३ or वायू ३ ॥ Now if before इति, the pluta became apluta, then we shall not hear the prolation at all in अग्नी इति वायू इति formed by अग्नी ३ + इति &c. For here the vowels will retain their form by being pragrihya by 6.1.125, and in addition to that they will lose their pluta, by the present rule. But this is not intended. Hence the pluta is heard in अग्नी ३ इति, वायू ३ इति ॥