6.4.145
अह्नष्टखोरेव
Operational rule vidhi
The अ of अहन् is elided only before the affixes ट and ख.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Target अह्नः ṣaṣṭhī · ekavacanaRight context टखोः saptamī · dvivacanaIndeclinable एव avyaya
- 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").
- Indeclinable An avyaya such as च "and", वा "optionally", न "not".
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Full reading
अह्नः टखोः एव
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
The अ of अहन् is elided only before the affixes ट and ख।
Thus द्वे अहनी समाहूते = द्व्यहः, त्र्यहः (5.4.91 with टच्), द्वे अहनी अधीष्टो भृतो भूतो भावी वा = द्व्यहीनः, त्र्यहीनः (with ख 5.1.87).
Vart:- ख is added to अहन् in the sense of तस्य समूहः, when referring to a sacrifice. अह्नां समूहः क्रतुः = अहीनः 4.2.42.
Though the अन् of अहन् would have been elided by the last aphorism also, before the affixes ट and ख, the present sutra makes a restrictive rule : अहन् does not lose its final अन् before any other Taddhita affix, thus अह्ना निर्वृत्तम् = आह्निकम् (with ठञ् 5.1.79). The word एव 'only' is for the sake of perspicuity. अहन् alone does not lose its final अन् before ट and ख, other stems also do the same. This we infer, from the exception made in the case of atman and adhvan, before ख in 7.4.169.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.