6.4.107
लोपश्चास्यान्यतरस्यां म्वोः
Operational rule vidhi
The उकार which occurs at end of a प्रत्यय is optionally deleted when followed by a मकार / वकार , provided that a संयोग is not present immediately before this उकार.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Substitute / term prathamā · ekavacanaIndeclinable च avyayaTarget अस्य ṣaṣṭhī · ekavacanaRight context अन्यतरस्याम् saptamī · ekavacanaRight context म्- वोः saptamī · dvivacana
- Substitute / term Prathamā (1st case): in operational rules, the substitute or the thing introduced; in definitions, the term or its referent.
- Indeclinable An avyaya such as च "and", वा "optionally", न "not".
- Target Ṣaṣṭhī (6th case): names what gets replaced, "in place of X" (1.1.49 षष्ठी स्थानेयोगा).
- 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").
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Full reading
च अस्य अन्यतरस्याम् म्-
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
अस्य → / अन्यतरस्याम् म्-
Replace asya with lopaḥ when anyatarasyām m-voḥ follows. Inherited words (anuvṛtti) may add further conditions.
Commentary
The पु of the विकरण उ and श्नु when not preceded by a conjunct consonant, may be elided optionally before a personal affix beginning with म् or व्।
Thus सुन्वः or सुनुवः, सुन्मः, सुनुमः, तन्वः, तनुवः, तन्मः, तनुमः ॥ The उ must belong to the affix, and should not be part of the root. Therefore not in युवः, युमः ॥
Why do we say 'not preceded by a conjunct consonant'? Observe शक्नुवः, शक्नुमः only. Though the elision word लुक् was understood in this sutra, the mention of लोप indicates that the final is only to be elided, and not the whole affix नु ॥ It is a general maxim that the words लुक्, श्लु and लुप् cause the elision of the whole affix, while 'lopa' will cause elision of the final letter only of the affix. If the whole affix be elided, we could not get सुन्वः &c., Moreover, in कुर्व and कुर्म formed by guna of कृ, there would have been no guna, had the word लुक् been used, for 1.1.63, would have prevented guna; but by using the word लोप we have such guna also by 1.1.62.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.