7.4.57
मुचोऽकर्मकस्य गुणो वा
Operational rule vidhi
When मुच् has an Intransitive signification गुण is optionally substituted for its vowel before the अनिट् सन् of the Desiderative.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Target मुचः ṣaṣṭhī · ekavacanaTarget अकर्मकस्य ṣaṣṭhī · ekavacanaSubstitute / term prathamā · 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.
- Indeclinable An avyaya such as च "and", वा "optionally", न "not".
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Full reading
मुचः अकर्मकस्य वा
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
मुचः अकर्मकस्य → optional
Replace mucaḥ akarmakasya with guṇaḥ, optionally. Inherited words (anuvṛtti) may add further conditions.
Commentary
When मुच् has an Intransitive signification गुण is optionally substituted for its vowel before the अनिट् सन् of the Desiderative.
By 1.2.10, after a root ending in a consonant, the सन् is like कित् and does not cause Guna. The present sutra ordains it optionally. As मोक्षते or मुमुक्षते वत्सः स्वयमेव ॥ In the Transitive there is one form only, as मुमुक्षति वत्सं देवदत्तः ॥ मुच् becomes Intransitive when it has a Reflexive significance, or when it expresses a mere action. The reduplication is elided by 7.4.58.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.