Verse 3.14.87

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.87:

शुक्लादिषु मतुब्लोपो व्यतिरेकस्य दर्शनात् ।
असाधुत्वनिवृत्त्यर्थं साधवस्ते बिदादिवत् ॥ ८७ ॥

śuklādiṣu matublopo vyatirekasya darśanāt |
asādhutvanivṛttyarthaṃ sādhavaste bidādivat || 87 ||

87. As expressions in which the two arc presented separately are available, there is elision of matup in a word like śuklaḥ in order that there may be no incorrectness. Words like śukla are correct like bidāḥ and similar words.

Commentary

Why is the elision of the matup suffix taught after words expressive of quality?

[Read verse 87 above]

[Words sometimes express the qualified and the qualifier as separate things as in paṭasya śuklaḥ = ‘The white (colour) of the cloth.’ Here the two words have different case-endings. But in śuklaḥ paṭaḥ = ‘white cloth’, they have the same case-ending because the object and its quality are not presented as separate things. But then, the matup suffix should have come after the word śukla (by P. 5. 2. 94) to indicate that the colour belongs to the object. Otherwise, the word could be considered incorrect. In order that it may not be so considered, the elision of the matup is taught. Though the suffix is not there, the word is still a vṛtti, a complex formation because it denotes a thing as qualified by a quality. It is like the word gargāḥ which means the descendants of garga even though the apatya suffix yañ has been elided. It is not because of the relation of identity between the quality and the qualified that the word śukla is correct, but because elision of matup has been taught.]

The author now resumes consideration of the relation of the qualifier and the qualified in a vṛtti (complex formation or integration of meaning.