7.3.70
घोर्लोपो लेटि वा
Operational rule vidhi
The final of दा and धा (धु roots) may optionally be elided in the लेट् (Vedic Subjunctive).
Word by word (padaccheda)
Target ṣaṣṭhī · ekavacanaSubstitute / term prathamā · ekavacanaRight context लेटि saptamī · ekavacanaIndeclinable वा avyaya
- Target Ṣaṣṭhī (6th case): names what gets replaced, "in place of X" (1.1.49 षष्ठी स्थानेयोगा).
- Substitute / term Prathamā (1st case): in operational rules, the substitute or the thing introduced; in definitions, the term or its referent.
- 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".
Dotted words are technical terms. Hover or tap one to see its card.
Full reading
लेटि वा
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
→ / लेटि optional
Replace ghoḥ with lopaḥ when leṭi follows, optionally. Inherited words (anuvṛtti) may add further conditions.
Commentary
The final of दा and धा (धु roots) may optionally be elided in the लेट् (Vedic Subjunctive).
As दधद्रत्ना दाशुषे Rig I.35.8. सामो ददद् गन्धर्वाय Rig X. 85.41. But also यदग्निरग्नये ददात् ॥ The form ददात्, however, may also be deduced even when the final of दा is elided, for then by the आट् augment 3.4.94 we get this form. The word वा is therefore employed in the sutra only for the sake of distinctness, for the sutra without वा would have also given the above forms, as we have shown. Or the वा is used to remove the doubt which one may entertain to this effect " ददात् is the form which may be deduced by the general rule, since लोप is taught, this form will be excluded altogether and will never appear".
The form दधत् is thus evolved. We add तिप् to the root धा; then the इ of ति is elided 3.4.97. दाशुषे = यजमानाय रत्नानि दद्यात् ॥ Others say, the दधत् is the form of the root with the शतृ affix. ददत् is from the root दाञ् ॥
Some say that वा is jnapaka and indicates the existence of the following maxim :- अनित्यमागमशासनम् "the rule about augments is anitya". So that the augment आट् being anitya, we could not have got the form ददात् ॥ Hence the employment of the word वा ॥
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.