नाञ्चेः पूजायाम्

Operational rule vidhi

When used in the meaning of 'to pray', the नकार of the verb root अञ्च् is not removed.

Word by word (padaccheda)

Indeclinable न avyayaTarget अञ्चेः ṣaṣṭhī · ekavacanaRight context पूजायाम् saptamī · ekavacana

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").

Dotted words are technical terms. Hover or tap one to see its card.

Full reading

न अञ्चेः पूजायाम्

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

Commentary

The nasal of अञ्च् is not elided when meaning is to honour.
Thus अञ्चिता अस्य गुरवः, अञ्चितमिव शिरो वहति ॥ The इट् augment is added by 7.2.53. When the sense is not that of 'honoring', we have उदक्तमुदकं कुपात् "the water was drawn from the well." Here the इट् is prohibited by 7.2.15.

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