सूत्रपठनविधि

The learner should follow the procedure given below to penetrate the outer shell of the sutra and to partake of the clear essence inside.

I. पदच्छेद

The learner must break up the sandhi in the sutra and look at each पद separately. Example: इको यणचि. पदच्छेद gives इकः यण् अचि.

II. विभक्ति वचन

Once the individual पद is available, determine which case (विभक्ति) and what number (वचन), it is in.

Example: इकः is षष्ठी एकवचन of इक्. अचि is सप्तमी एकवचन of अच्. इक्, यण्, अच् - all three are प्रत्याहार. The learner should remember that षष्ठी and सप्तमी have special purport in the अष्टाध्यायी.

III. समास

When a पद is a compound noun (i.e., in समास form), it should be analyzed in terms of its constituent elements. It is expected that पदच्छेद and विभक्ति वचन analysis will have already provided a clue to its meaning.

IV. अनुवृत्ति

The अनुवृत्ति is required to complete the sutra. The learner must use terms in the अनुवृत्ति (provided for each sutra) to make as complete a statement of the sutra as possible i.e., without adding any words other than a supporting verb. At this stage, the purport of the sutra should be clear.

Example: For the sutra, इको यणचि (6.1.77), the अनुवृत्ति is संहितायाम्. So a statement of the sutra may be formulated as follows: इकः यण् (स्यात्) अचि संहितायाम्

V. वृत्ति

At this stage, the वृत्ति should be read. The learner must note carefully any words in the वृत्ति additional to the statement he formed in IV above. In practice, the वृत्ति should be very close to the complete statement of the sutra that the learner formed for himself based on the sutra text and the अनुवृत्ति.

Example: the वृत्ति for इको यणचि (6.1.77) is given as इकः स्थाने यण् स्यात् अचि संहितायाम् विषये. Here we notice that only स्थाने is the extra word introduced by the वृत्ति. विषये is used in the day to day sense to indicate context i.e., वृत्ति says we are talking of संहिता here. This anyway is obvious from the अनुवृत्ति term namely, संहितायाम्. That leaves स्थाने. On further investigation, the reader finds that this is a technical term related to इक् being in षष्ठी. This completes an initial understanding of the text of the वृत्ति.

VI. उदाहरण

The वृत्ति gives many pertinent examples and counter examples. The learner must work out the example for himself based on his understanding of the sutra. It is possible that other sutras are required to be applied to arrive at the final form given in the example. But the वृत्ति example is always chosen such that these other sutras would have been covered already. Therefore the learner should be able to chart the intermediate steps i.e., cite the other sutras invoked in the example. Only then can the learner consider that he has completed the first time learning of the sutra. (प्रथमावृत्ति)