After this chapter you will be able to take any finished word that ends in s — śivas, devās, manas, sas — and say what its s turns into when the next word follows. You will see that Bhaṭṭoji does not treat the s directly. He first replaces it by a marked r called ru, and then lets other rules decide the fate of that ru: it becomes u (śivo vandyaḥ), it becomes y and then usually drops (devā iha), or it is elided before another r (harī ramyaḥ), a fate it shares with every r, plain or marked. One word, ahan ("day"), ends in n and is given a plain r instead of ru (ahar ahaḥ). And for two pronouns the whole ending is dropped before the ru stage is even reached (sa śambhuḥ). Each of the sixteen rules below is shown at work on a concrete word.
śivo 'rcyaḥ), and lopaḥ śākalyasya (SK 67: a pada-final y or v that is preceded by a or ā may optionally be dropped when an aś — any vowel or voiced consonant — follows). The condition "preceded by a or ā" matters in this chapter: a y after o is out of SK 67's reach.śivas into śivad.devāḥ), before s the visarga becomes s (visarjanīyasya saḥ), and before p it may become the upadhmānīya.Two words used throughout: the sound that a rule replaces is the sthānin ("the one in the place"), and what is put in its place is the ādeśa, the substitute. When a rule is a special case that overrides a general rule inside the general rule's own territory, the special rule is an apavāda (exception) and the general one is the utsarga.
śivas + arcyaḥ → śivo 'rcyaḥ and śivas + vandyaḥ → śivo vandyaḥThis group makes the ru, then turns it into u in the commonest setting: the ru stands after a short a, and either a short a or a voiced consonant follows. The u then joins the preceding a as o by guṇa. "Śiva is to be worshipped" comes out as śivo 'rcyaḥ, and "Śiva is to be praised" as śivo vandyaḥ. On the way, one rule that would spoil the result (SK 164) is stated only so that the next rule (SK 165) can block it.
Rule. The s at the end of a pada is replaced by ru. So is the final ṣ of a pada that ends in the word sajuṣ. ru is the sound r carrying the marker u; the marker is an it, also called an anubandha, and is never pronounced. What the marker is for comes out at SK 166.
Example.
śivas (the word śiva with its nominative-singular ending) → its final s stands at the end of a pada → s is replaced by ru → śivar(u), which we write śivar.
sajuṣ (nominative singular) → the pada ends in the word sajuṣ, so its final ṣ → ru → sajur(u); the finished nominative singular is sajūḥ.
sajuṣau, sajuṣaḥ → the ṣ is not at the end of a pada → no ru; the ṣ stays.
parama-sajūḥ → the pada ends in the word sajuṣ → ru applies here too, by the tadanta reading.
Applies when / blocked by. The rule sits under the adhikāra padasya, "of a pada", and sa in the sūtra means the sound s (the a is only for pronunciation). So the rule reads "of the pada ending in s, and of the pada ending in sajuṣ"; the substitute then lands on the last sound only. The rule is an apavāda to jaśtva. Without that status, śivas would come out as śivad: jaśtva is the earlier Tripādī rule, so by SK 12 the later ru-rule ought to be invisible to it. But the ru-rule has no case of its own outside jaśtva's territory — every pada-final s is a jhal that jaśtva would take. A rule with no scope of its own (niravakāśa) must be the apavāda of the rule that covers all its cases, and an apavāda is not treated as invisible; it applies by the sheer authority of its being stated. Bhaṭṭoji's commentators cite the Bhāṣya for this.
Watch out. The ru is not yet a sound you can hear. It is a marked r, and every rule in this chapter that says roḥ ("of the ru") is looking for this marked r and nothing else.
Rule. A ru that follows a short a (not pluta) is replaced by u when a short a (not pluta) follows it. The substitute u is carried by anuvṛtti from ṛta ut, and the condition "when a follows" (ati) from eṅaḥ padāntād ati (SK 86).
Example.
śivas + arcyaḥ → SK 162 → śivar + arcyaḥ.
śivar + arcyaḥ → the ru follows the short a of śiva and is followed by the short a of arcyaḥ → ru is replaced by u → śiva u + arcyaḥ.
The sequence a u is handled by SK 164–165 below; the finished form is śivo 'rcyaḥ.
Applies when / blocked by. This rule is an apavāda to the y-substitute of SK 167. SK 167 is the later rule and would otherwise win; and one cannot simply say "SK 167 is in the Tripādī, so it is invisible here", because the u, once made, stands in for its sthānin ru, and a rule keyed to ru is then hard to keep away. So Bhaṭṭoji makes the u-rule an apavāda, at least for a ru preceded by a plain a (the apūrvasya portion of SK 167). Each of the four qualifications in the sūtra excludes something:
devās + atra → devār + atra; the ru becomes y by SK 167 and the y drops by SK 67 → devā atra.śvas + āgantā → śva āgantā, again by y and elision.ehi susrota3 atra snāhi.tiṣṭhatu paya ā3gnidatta, where the pluta of āgnidatta comes from guror anṛtaḥ (SK 97).Watch out. ru is made by a Tripādī rule (A 8.2.66); this rule is much earlier (A 6.1.113). By SK 12 the ru ought to be invisible here. It is not, because this rule expressly names roḥ — it restates the ru — and that wording has force. Bhaṭṭoji himself asks why aplutāt is needed when tapara ataḥ already excludes a pluta. His answer: for a rule outside the Tripādī, the pluta could count as not yet made, so the a would pass as short; the word aplutāt, by its very force, shows that the pluta is not so treated here. The tapara marking cannot carry that message, since it is already fully employed in excluding long ā; scholars discuss this.
Rule. The same ru — after a short, non-pluta a — is also replaced by u when a haś follows. haś is the pratyāhāra from ha (Śivasūtra 5) to the marker ś (Śivasūtra 10): every voiced consonant. The words ataḥ, roḥ, aplutāt and the substitute u are all carried forward from SK 163.
Example.
śivas + vandyaḥ → SK 162 → śivar + vandyaḥ.
śivar + vandyaḥ → the ru follows short a, and v is a haś → ru → u → śiva u + vandyaḥ.
śiva u → ād guṇaḥ (SK 69): a + u → o → śivo vandyaḥ.
Applies when / blocked by. SK 163 could not reach śivar vandyaḥ, because v is not a; this rule is stated for exactly that case. It takes only the r with the marker u, because roḥ names the ru. Two contrasts:
prātar + atra → prātar is an indeclinable (avyaya) ending in a plain r, not a ru → no u → prātar atra.
bhrātar + gaccha → bhrātṛ with the vocative ending su (a vocative ending is a sambuddhi): the ṛ becomes ar by guṇa and the su is dropped → this r is a guṇa r, not a ru → no u → bhrātar gaccha.
Watch out. This is the payoff of the marker u in ru that SK 162 promised: it tells u-substitution which r to act on. Now watch devās + iha → SK 162 → devār + iha: the ru follows a long ā, so neither SK 163 nor this rule can touch it. Its fate is Group B.
Rule. When an ak vowel is followed by the vowel of a first- or second-case ending, the two are replaced by one long vowel savarṇa with the first. Savarṇa means "of the same kind": sharing the place of articulation in the mouth and the internal effort (Chapter 1, SK 10). ak is the pratyāhāra a to the marker k of Śivasūtra 2: a, i, u, ṛ, ḷ. The long substitute is the pūrvasavarṇa-dīrgha, "the long one homogeneous with the preceding".
Example.
śiva u + arcyaḥ → the a of śiva is an ak, and the u is the vowel now standing where the nominative ending stood → this rule presents itself → a + u would be replaced together by long ā, which is not what we want.
Applies when / blocked by. akaḥ is carried by anuvṛtti from akaḥ savarṇe dīrghaḥ, aci from iko yaṇ aci, and the adhikāra ekaḥ pūrvaparayoḥ says the substitute is one sound for both. prathamayoḥ is a partitive genitive: "of the first and second" case-endings. The rule is stated here only as a threat; SK 165 removes it.
Rule. After an a-sound (a or ā), when an ic follows, the pūrvasavarṇa-dīrgha of SK 164 does not apply. ic is the pratyāhāra from i to the marker c: every vowel except a. The sūtra divides as na āt ici; āt is an ablative, "after a".
Example.
śiva u + arcyaḥ → the u is an ic after the a of śiva → SK 164 is blocked.
śiva u + arcyaḥ → ād guṇaḥ (SK 69): a + u → o → śivo + arcyaḥ.
śivo + arcyaḥ → eṅaḥ padāntād ati (SK 86): pada-final o followed by short a → the o alone stands for both (the earlier form, pūrvarūpa) → śivo 'rcyaḥ.
In the same way śivas + atra → śivo 'tra.
Applies when / blocked by. SK 164 had elbowed guṇa aside; once SK 164 is prohibited, guṇa comes back. Bhaṭṭoji's commentators explain why this is legitimate: guṇa was never actually destroyed, only threatened, so when the threat is removed guṇa simply proceeds. That is the sense of the maxim "when the apavāda is prohibited, the utsarga stands"; scholars discuss its exact wording.
devās + iha → devā iha, and the particles bho, bhago, aghoWhen the ru stands after an a-sound (a or ā), or after the particles bho, bhago, agho, and a voiced sound follows, it becomes y — wherever SK 163 and SK 166 have not already claimed it for u. After long ā that is always (devās + iha); after short a it is when the following vowel is not short a (sas + u, SK 170). That y is then pronounced lightly by some teachers, dropped after o by Gārgya, dropped before the particle u, and dropped before any consonant by everyone. The running example is "the gods here": devās + iha ends as devā iha (or devāy iha). For the particles, bhos + acyuta ends as bho acyuta.
Rule. A ru preceded by bho, bhago, agho, or an a-sound is replaced by y when an aś follows. aś is the pratyāhāra from a to the marker ś of Śivasūtra 10: all the vowels and all the voiced consonants. The word roḥ is carried forward from roḥ supi (A 8.3.16).
Example.
devās + iha → SK 162 → devār + iha.
devār + iha → the ru follows the ā of devā, and i is an aś → ru → y → devāy iha.
devāy iha → lopaḥ śākalyasya (SK 67) may drop the pada-final y, since it is preceded by ā and a vowel follows → devā iha or devāy iha; both are correct.
bhos + acyuta → bhor + acyuta → the ru follows bho, and a is an aś → bhoy acyuta. Here SK 67 cannot drop the y, because it is not preceded by a; SK 169 takes over.
Applies when / blocked by. An aś must follow. In devās + santi the s is not an aś, so no y is made; the ru becomes visarga and then s by visarjanīyasya saḥ → devās santi. The sūtra itself is written without sandhi between bhago and agho, and between agho and a; this hiatus is the sūtra's own doing (it is sautra) and is not a mistake. bhos, bhagos and aghos are particles (nipātas) ending in s; the ca-list of particles is open-ended, so they belong to it.
Watch out. Why does the sūtra need to say "when an aś follows", if in devāḥ santi the y-rule is asiddha anyway and visarga results? Because a substitute is treated as its sthānin (sthānivadbhāva): the visarga could be treated as the ru it replaced, and a rule keyed to ru would then reach it. That treatment is not barred here, since this rule looks for the whole ru (r plus its marker), not for the bare sound r. So the word aśi is what keeps devāḥ santi safe; scholars discuss the fine print.
Rule. In Śākaṭāyana's view, a pada-final v or y before an aś is optionally replaced by a v or y of lighter effort (laghuprayatnatara). A sound is of lighter effort when the tip of the tongue, the part next to the tip, the middle and the root are all slackened in pronouncing it.
Example.
devāy iha → the pada-final y stands before i, an aś → it may be pronounced lightly, or in the ordinary way.
bhoy acyuta → likewise, a light y or an ordinary y.
Applies when / blocked by. Only for a pada-final y or v, and only before an aś. Naming a teacher here signals an option: the light pronunciation is one alternative, the ordinary one the other.
Watch out. The letter does not change; only the articulation does. Yet the grammar treats the light y and the ordinary y as two distinct things, and two of the next rules, SK 169 and SK 171, sort their fates separately.
Rule. A pada-final y of ordinary (non-light) effort that follows o is elided, and the elision is obligatory (nitya). The mention of Gārgya is honorific, not a sign of option. otaḥ is an ablative, "after o".
Example.
bhos + acyuta → bhor + acyuta → SK 167 → bhoy acyuta.
bhoy acyuta (ordinary y) → pada-final y after o → y is elided → bho acyuta.
bhoy acyuta (light y by SK 168) → this rule does not apply; the y stays → bhoy acyuta.
Applies when / blocked by. Only ya is carried forward from SK 168, not va, because a v after o never arises. aśi is carried from SK 167 and lopa from lopaḥ śākalyasya. The adhikāra padasya is qualified by y, so the rule concerns the pada ending in y, and by the paribhāṣā that a substitute replaces the last sound it hits the pada-final y only. So toyam is untouched: its y is inside the word. The light y escapes because the rule that ordains the light y would be pointless otherwise; its separate statement has force.
Watch out. A teacher's name in a sūtra usually signals an option (compare SK 168). Here the received explanation makes the elision obligatory, so bho acyuta is the only form with an ordinary y.
Rule. A pada-final y or v preceded by an a-sound is elided when the particle uñ (the word u) follows as a pada. The words apūrvasya, padasya, vyoḥ and lopaḥ are all carried forward.
Example.
sas + u + ekāgniḥ → SK 162 → sar + u.
sar + u → the ru follows a, and u is an aś → SK 167 → say + u.
say + u → pada-final y after a, before the particle u → y elided → sa u ekāgniḥ.
For v the Vṛtti gives asā u ekāgniḥ.
Applies when / blocked by. Before the particle u, SK 67 would only allow the elision; this rule makes it obligatory. The word pade excludes tantrayutam, "woven on the loom": tantre + utam → the e becomes ay before the vowel → tantray + utam. The u of utam comes from the root veñ with the affix kta: its v has become u by saṃprasāraṇa and the result is utam. That u is a uñ, but not a pada, so the y is not elided: tantrayutam. Bhaṭṭoji adds that if the sūtra's uñ is read as only the particle named in the ca-list (a pratipadokta, "specifically mentioned" item, which is preferred over a rule-derived one), then pade is not needed here at all and serves the following rule, ṅamo hrasvād aci.
Rule. In the view of all teachers, a y — light or ordinary — preceded by bho, bhago, agho or an a-sound is elided before a hal. Because all teachers agree, the elision is obligatory.
Example.
bhos + devāḥ → bhor → bhoy + devāḥ → d is a hal → y elided → bho devāḥ.
Likewise bho lakṣmi, bho vidvadvṛnda, bhago namas te, agho yāhi.
devās + namyāḥ → devār → devāy + namyāḥ → y elided → devā namyāḥ; likewise devā yānti.
Contrast devāy iha: a vowel follows, so this rule is silent and SK 67 applies (optional elision).
Applies when / blocked by. The condition bho-bhago-agho-a-pūrvasya is carried from SK 167 and the word ya from SK 168. The division of labour: after o, an ordinary y was already dropped by SK 169, so this rule adds the light y after o; after a, it drops both kinds. Only y is meant; v is not carried forward, and scholars discuss the rare v preceded by a, and whether "hal" here means a voiced consonant only, as all of Bhaṭṭoji's examples have. bho, bhago and agho can arise either from the particles bhos, bhagos, aghos or, by a vārttika, from the vocatives of bhavat, bhagavat, aghavat; examples such as bho devāḥ (plural) and bho lakṣmi (feminine) show that the particles are meant to be included.
Watch out. In devā namyāḥ you might think the y was already gone by lopo vyor vali, the earlier rule that drops y or v before a val (the pratyāhāra va to l: every consonant except y). It was not: the y is made by a Tripādī rule, so for lopo vyor vali it does not yet exist. This rule is what removes it.
manas + ratha → manorathaḥNot every word-final sound goes through ru. The final n of ahan, "day", is given a plain r instead of ru. Then two clean-up rules for any r — a repha, whether plain or the marked ru — follow: it drops before another r, and the vowel before it is then lengthened. These clean-up rules threaten our running example: manas + ratha, "chariot of the mind", ought by their letter to lose its r before the r of ratha. The last rule of the group, a rule about rule-conflict, explains why the ru becomes u instead and manorathaḥ results.
Rule. The final n of ahan is replaced by a plain r — a repha with no marker — but not when a sup (case-ending) follows. This is an apavāda to ru, which the sūtra ahan (A 8.2.68) would otherwise give to the pada-final n of ahan; the r is given instead of the ru, not to it. Two vārttikas adjust it.
Example.
ahan + ahan ("day after day", doubled for repetition) → the first ahan ends a pada, and its ending has been deleted so no sup counts as following → n → r → ahar ahaḥ (the second n becomes ru and then visarga at the pause). Had it been ru, SK 163 would have made it u — wrong.
ahan + gaṇa ("a group of days") → ahargaṇaḥ. Had it been ru, SK 166 would have given ahogaṇaḥ — wrong.
ahan + bhyām → bhyām is a sup → no r → ru by ahan → SK 166 → u → guṇa → ahobhyām.
Vārttika rūparātrirathantareṣu rutvam: before rūpa, rātri and rathantara the n takes ru after all → ahorūpam; gatam ahorātrir eṣā; ahorātraḥ (the compound's rātra still counts as rātri, since a thing altered in one part is not a different thing); ahorathantaram (rathantara is a particular sāman, a Vedic chant).
Vārttika aharādīnāṃ patyādiṣu vā rephaḥ: ahan and similar words before pati and similar words optionally keep r → aharpatiḥ, gīrpatiḥ, dhūrpatiḥ; on the other alternative, visarga or (before p) the upadhmānīya.
Applies when / blocked by. "Not when a sup follows" is read as a plain prohibition, not as "when some other affix follows"; otherwise r would appear only before an affix (aharvān) and not before a whole word (aharbhāti). The second vārttika is an apavāda to visarga: ahar already has its r, so what the vārttika adds is the option of keeping it instead of visarga. In gīrpatiḥ and dhūrpatiḥ the long vowel comes from ṛvor upadhāyāḥ, and because the vowel is long the ṣ-substitution of idudupadhasya does not apply.
Rule. A repha (r) is elided when a repha follows. The word lopa is carried forward from ḍho ḍhe lopaḥ (A 8.3.13); raḥ is a genitive, "of the r".
Example.
punar + ramate ("he delights again") → the r of punar stands before the r of ramate → r elided → puna + ramate (finished as punā ramate by SK 174).
haris + ramyaḥ → SK 162 → harir + ramyaḥ → the ru is an r before an r → elided → hari + ramyaḥ (finished as harī ramyaḥ).
manas + ratha → SK 162 → manar + ratha → by its letter this rule would elide the r here as well. That is the problem SK 175 settles.
Rule. When a ḍha or an r that causes the elision of a preceding ḍha or r follows, the aṇ vowel before the elided sound is lengthened. aṇ is read with the earlier ṇ (Śivasūtra 1): a, i, u only. The word ḍhralopa means "that which makes a ḍha or an r drop", and only a following ḍha or r does that (by A 8.3.13 and SK 173).
Example.
puna + ramate (the r of punar elided by SK 173 before the r of ramate) → the a before the gap is an aṇ → lengthened → punā ramate.
hari + ramyaḥ (from haris, after ru and elision) → i lengthened → harī ramyaḥ.
śambhu + rājate (from śambhus) → u lengthened → śambhū rājate.
tṛḍhaḥ, vṛḍhaḥ (from the roots tṛhū, "injure", and vṛhū, "exert", with the affix kta: the h becomes ḍh, the t of kta becomes ḍh, and the first ḍh is elided before the second) → ṛ is not an aṇ → no lengthening.
Applies when / blocked by. Three examples with a, i and u show that aṇ here is the short pratyāhāra. The rule is phrased around the sound that causes the drop, not around the drop itself; otherwise the a of cayanīyam (where an r is dropped for a different reason) or of cakāra (where the r of the reduplicated syllable is dropped) would be wrongly lengthened. The word pūrvasya, "of the preceding", is stated because the sūtra stands under the adhikāra uttarapade, "in the latter member of a compound"; without it the lengthening would be confined to compounds like nīraktam, and līḍhaḥ, gūḍhaḥ, ajarghāḥ and punā ramate itself, which are not compounds, would be lost.
Watch out. The close of this rule sets up Group C's running example. In manas + ratha, once ru is made, two rules are ready at once: SK 166 wants to make the ru into u, and SK 173 wants to elide it before the r of ratha. Bhaṭṭoji states that only the u applies; the next rule says why.
Rule. When two rules of equal strength conflict, the operation of the later rule is performed. This is a paribhāṣā, a rule about how rules are applied. A conflict (vipratiṣedha) of equal strength (tulyabala) exists when two rules, each with a territory of its own elsewhere, both apply at once to the same form; "later" (para) means enjoined by the rule that comes later in the Aṣṭādhyāyī.
Example.
manas + ratha → SK 162 → manar + ratha.
manar + ratha → SK 166 (u for a ru before a haś) and SK 173 (elision of r before r) both apply. Each has its own territory: SK 166 in śivo vandyaḥ, SK 173 in punā ramate (where the r of punar is a plain r, not a ru, so SK 166 has no claim). So the conflict is one of equal strength.
By this rule the later SK 173 (A 8.3.14) should win over SK 166 (A 6.1.114) and elide the r.
But SK 173 is a Tripādī rule, so by pūrvatrāsiddham (SK 12) it counts as not existing for SK 166. No conflict ever arises, and SK 166 works undisturbed → mano + ratha → manorathaḥ.
Applies when / blocked by. This paribhāṣā has no purchase inside the domain of SK 12: as the Bhāṣya puts it, there is no conflict where the later rule is absent. Bhaṭṭoji's wording — "because ro ri is asiddha", not "because the elision is asiddha" — shows that it is the rule itself, not merely its effect, that is treated as non-existent. Had the elision actually taken place and only then been treated as undone, there would be no ru left for SK 166 to act on, and manorathaḥ could not be derived; scholars discuss this at length.
Watch out. Two rules that merely both present themselves are not always in "conflict" in this technical sense. If one is an apavāda of the other (as SK 163 is of SK 167), or if one is invisible to the other by SK 12 (as here), this paribhāṣā does not come into play.
eṣas and sasFor two pronouns, etad ("this") and tad ("that"), Bhaṭṭoji drops the nominative-singular ending su outright before a consonant, so the s never becomes ru at all: eṣa viṣṇuḥ, sa śambhuḥ. In verse, the su of sas may drop even before a vowel, provided that the dropping is what fills out the metrical line.
Rule. The su (nominative-singular ending) of etad and tad, when they do not contain the affix ka, is elided before a hal, but not in a nañ-compound. A nañ-compound (nañ-samāsa) is a compound whose first member is the negative a/an.
Example.
eṣas + viṣṇuḥ → etad without ka, v is a hal → su elided → eṣa viṣṇuḥ.
sas + śambhuḥ → tad without ka, ś is a hal → su elided → sa śambhuḥ.
eṣakas + rudraḥ → the word contains ka → su stays → s → ru → u → guṇa → eṣako rudraḥ.
asas + śivaḥ → a nañ-compound (a-sa, "not he") → su stays → visarga → asaḥ śivaḥ.
eṣas + atra → a vowel follows, not a hal → no elision here; instead ru, then SK 163 and guṇa → eṣo 'tra.
Applies when / blocked by. Three conditions, each shown by a contrast above: no ka, no nañ-compound, and a following consonant. Before a vowel the ending goes the ordinary way of Group A.
Rule. The su of sas is elided even before a vowel, if it is that elision that completes the metrical quarter-verse (pāda). saḥ in the sūtra names the nominative-singular form itself, with its own genitive ending dropped; su-lopa is carried forward from SK 176.
Example.
sas + imām (in the line semām aviḍḍhi prabhṛtiṃ ya īśiṣe, "protect this offering, you who are able") → dropping the su makes the pāda come out right → su elided → sa + imām → a + i → e by guṇa → semām.
sas + eṣa (in saiṣa dāśarathī rāmaḥ) → su elided → sa + eṣa → a + e join as ai → saiṣa.
sa it kṣeti, sa eva muktvā → here dropping the su does not complete the pāda → the rule does not apply; ordinary sandhi gives sa it, sa eva.
Applies when / blocked by. Vāmana holds that only a pāda of a Ṛgvedic verse is meant; others, since the sūtra makes no distinction, admit a pāda of an ordinary śloka too. The restriction "only when the elision really completes the pāda" is secured by carrying forward the word bahulam, "variously", from syaś chandasi bahulam (SK 3526); by the same word the rule stays silent in so 'ham ājanmaśuddhānām, where the su takes its ordinary course to o.
śivo 'rcyaḥ (SK 86, Chapter 3).asā u ekāgniḥ (SK 170).| SK | Sūtra | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 162 | sasajuṣo ruḥ | A pada-final s, and the final of sajuṣ, become ru; overrides jaśtva. | śivas → śivar(u) |
| 163 | ato roraplutādaplute | ru after short a, before short a, becomes u. | śivar + arcyaḥ → śiva u + arcyaḥ |
| 166 | haśi ca | The same ru becomes u before a voiced consonant too. | śivo vandyaḥ; not prātar atra |
| 164 | prathamayoḥ pūrvasavarṇaḥ | An ak plus a first/second-case vowel would become one long vowel. | śiva u → threatens ā |
| 165 | nādici | …but not after a/ā before an ic; so guṇa runs. | śivo 'rcyaḥ, śivo 'tra |
| 167 | bhobhagoaghoapūrvasya yo'śi | ru after bho/bhago/agho/a-sound becomes y before a voiced sound. | devāy iha → devā iha |
| 168 | vyorlaghuprayatnataraḥ śākaṭāyanasya | Pada-final y/v before a voiced sound may be pronounced lightly. | light y in devāy iha |
| 169 | oto gārgyasya | An ordinary pada-final y after o is always elided. | bho acyuta (light: bhoy acyuta) |
| 170 | uñi ca pade | Pada-final y/v after an a-sound is elided before the particle u. | sa u ekāgniḥ; not tantrayutam |
| 171 | hali sarveṣām | Any such y (light or not) is elided before a consonant, by all teachers. | bho devāḥ, devā namyāḥ |
| 172 | ro'supi | The final of ahan becomes plain r, except before a case-ending; vārttikas for rūpa/rātri/rathantara and pati. | ahar ahaḥ, ahobhyām, ahorātraḥ, aharpatiḥ |
| 173 | ro ri | An r is elided before an r. | punar + ramate → puna ramate |
| 174 | ḍhralope pūrvasya dīrgho'ṇaḥ | Before the ḍha/r that caused such elision, the preceding a/i/u is lengthened. | punā ramate, harī ramyaḥ, śambhū rājate |
| 175 | vipratiṣedhe paraṃ kāryam | In a conflict of equal rules the later wins; but a Tripādī rule is asiddha, so no conflict. | manas + ratha → manorathaḥ |
| 176 | etattadoḥ sulopo'koranañsamāse hali | The su of etad/tad (no ka, no nañ-compound) is elided before a consonant. | eṣa viṣṇuḥ, sa śambhuḥ; not eṣo 'tra |
| 177 | so'ci lope cet pādapūraṇam | The su of sas is elided before a vowel if that completes the pāda. | semām, saiṣa; not sa eva |