षपूर्वहन्धृतराज्ञामणि

Operational rule vidhi

The उपधा-अकार of a भसंज्ञकस्य अङ्ग is omitted in presence of an अण्-प्रत्यय, if the अङ्ग ends in one of (1) षन्, (2) हन् or (3) धृतराजन् .

Word by word (padaccheda)

Target ष- पूर्व- हन्- धृत- राज्ञाम् ṣaṣṭhī · bahuvacanaRight context अणि saptamī · ekavacana

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

ष-पूर्व-हन्-धृत-राज्ञाम् अणि

Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.

Commentary

Of a भ अङ्ग (stem) ending in अन् with a preceding ष as well as of हन् and धृतराजन् , the अ is elided before the affix अण् ।
Thus औक्ष्णः, ताक्ष्णः, भ्रौनघ्नः, धार्तराज्ञः ॥ But सामनः, वैमन ॥ Why do we say before the affix अण्? Observe ताक्षण्यः ॥ Why do we say 'preceded by a ष'? Observe सामनः and वैमनः from सामन् and विमन् formed with the affix अण्; here neither the अ of मन् nor the final syllable अन् is elided, since 6.4.167 keeps these words in their primitive state so far.

Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.