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sthAne 'ntaratamaH

स्थाने ऽन्तरतमः ONPANINI 11050

Replace with the most alike.

Or more in extenso,

Whenever a sUtra replaces a letter with a list of letters, pick the one that resembles the original the most.

Example. When joining deva- देवॱ + IzaH ईशः, sUtra AdguNaH tells us to replace I ई with one of a अ e ए o ओ.

But we cannot pick whichever of a e o अ ए ओ we feel like; we need the one that is most like I ई.

That one is e ए. Why?

Because there are three groups of vowels:

the back vowels, u U o au उ ऊ ओ औ, round the lips;
the forward vowels, i I e ai इ ई ए ऐ, raise the tip of the tongue;
middle vowels, a A R RR L अ आ ऋ ॠ ऌ, neither round nor raise.

The e ए is the only one of a अ e ए o ओ that falls in the same group as I ई, so e ए is the most alike to I ई.

Similarly, when sUtra << eca::igghrasv... says that we have to replace ai ऐ with one of i इ u उ, the most alike is i इ — the only one that falls in the same group.

sUtra jhalAJjazonte says "replace z श् with the one of j ज् b ब् g ग् D ड् d द् that is most like z श्". How do I find out which one of these five is most z श्-like?

Say jabagaDada जबगडद aloud and feel where your tongue goes. The one that has the tongue nearest to the tongue position for z श् is the most alike. That would be the one that makes the middle of the tongue go up.