6.3.62
एक तद्धिते च
Operational rule vidhi
The short is substituted for the long एका before a तद्धित affix and when a second member follows.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Word एक Right context saptamī · ekavacanaIndeclinable च avyaya
- Word Case not marked in the source data.
- 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").
- Indeclinable An avyaya such as च "and", वा "optionally", न "not".
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Full reading
एक च
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
The short is substituted for the long एका before a तद्धित affix and when a second member follows.
As एकस्या आगतं = एकरूप्यम्, एकमयम्, एकस्या भावः = एकत्वम्, एकता ॥ So also एकस्याः क्षीरं = एकक्षीरम्, एकदुग्धम् ॥ The shortening takes place of the Feminine word एका, having the affix आ ॥ When एक is an adjective (गुणवचन) then the above forms could be evolved by the help of the rules of masculation, such as 6.3.35, i.e. when एक means the numeral one. But when it means 'alone', then those rules will not apply. The word एक is exhibited in the sutra without any case-affix as a Chhandas irregularity. The examples given are of एका in the feminine which alone can be shortened, and not of एक whose final is already short. Nor can the rule of shortening be applied to ए of एक, for the rule applies to the final letter, and not to a vowel situeated in the body of a word.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.