8.2.34
नहो धः
Operational rule vidhi
The हकार for the verb नह् is converted to धकार at पदान्त or when followed by a झल् letter.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Target नहः ṣaṣṭhī · ekavacanaSubstitute / term धः prathamā · ekavacana
- 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.
Dotted words are technical terms, dashed ones pratyāhāras (names for classes of sounds or affixes). Hover or tap one to see its card.
Full reading
नहः धः
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
नहः → धः
Replace nahaḥ with dhaḥ. Inherited words (anuvṛtti) may add further conditions.
Commentary
The ह of नह् is changed to ध before a before a झल् (all consonant except semi-vowels and nasals) letter or at the end of a word.
As नद्धा, नद्धुम्, नद्धव्यम्, उपानत्, परीणत् ॥ The त् of the affixes तृ &c, is changed to ध by 8.2.40; and for the preceding ध is substituted द by 8.4.53. उपानत् is formed by 8.2.39, read with 8.4.56. परीणत् is formed by क्विप् as it belongs to सम्पदादि class, the lengthening is by 6.3.116, and ण-change by 8.4.14. It would have shortened the processes of transformation, had only द been ordained in the sutra, instead of ध; but the ordaining of ध is for the purposes of 8.2.40, by which there should be ध for the participial त &c, in नद्धम्, and that there should not be the change of this Nishtha त into म by 8.2.42. Thus नध् + त = नध् + ध 8.2.40 नद्धम् 8.4.53 But had the substitute been द, we should have नद् + त = नन्नं by 8.2.42.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.