Verse 3.14.418

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.418:

अस्त्रीपूर्वपदत्वात् तु पुंवद्भावो भविष्यति ।
तथैव मृगदुग्धादो न चेत् स्त्र्यर्थो विवक्ष्यते ॥ ४१८ ॥

astrīpūrvapadatvāt tu puṃvadbhāvo bhaviṣyati |
tathaiva mṛgadugdhādo na cet stryartho vivakṣyate || 418 ||

418. The masculine form would result because the first term is not in the feminine gender as in the compound mṛgadugdha = ‘deer’s milk’, unless the meaning of female is meant to be conveyed.

Commentary

[A way of getting over this difficulty has been suggested elsewhere, that is, in vā. 2 and 3 on P. 6.3.42. To explain how, in the compound mṛgakṣīram = ‘deer's milk’, the first term is in the masculine gender whereas it should be feminine, considering that milk comes from the female, it is pointed out that the purpose of the word is only to exclude some other kind of animal. For that, even a masculine word would do. The same is true in mṛgacapalā = ‘quick like a deer’. It is only the cāpalya (quickness) of the deer that is meant, as distinguished from that of other animals. There is no intention to refer directly to the quickness of the female deer. The compound should, therefore, be analysed as mṛga iva capalā and not as mṛgīva capalā. If the cāpalya of the female is meant to be conveyed, then the analytic sentence would be mṛgīva capalā and then of course, the masculine form would result only through some rule.]

Now M. Bhā. I. p. 397, 1. 23, which states the view which is free from defect is explained.