apatya śatru

 Apatya śatru is a semantic compound meaning “enemy of one’s offspring,” where apatya is the grammatical term for “offspring/patronymic” and śatru means “enemy.”

What apatya means in Sanskrit grammar

In Pāṇini’s system, apatya refers to “offspring, descendant” and is the basis for a class of taddhita affixes used to form patronymics.

• Pāṇini defines it in the rule tasyāpatyam (P. 4.1.92), meaning “the descendant of that”

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• The Learn Sanskrit Online source explains that many taddhita suffixes express the sense of apatya (“offspring”) and gives examples such as aṇ, iñ, ḍhak

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• These suffixes create words meaning “son/daughter/descendant of X,” e.g. aupagava, dāśarathi, vainateya

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Thus, apatya is both:

• a semantic category (“offspring”), and
• a taddhita-adhikāra governing certain suffixes.

What śatru means

The word śatru is an ordinary Sanskrit noun meaning “enemy.”
It is not a grammatical term or affix in Pāṇini’s system.
Since the web results do not define śatru, this part comes from standard Sanskrit lexicon knowledge.

Meaning of the compound apatya-śatru

Because apatya means “offspring” and śatru means “enemy,” the compound apatya-śatru is interpreted as:

• apatyasya śatruḥ — “the enemy of one’s offspring,”
• a tatpuruṣa compound (genitive relation).

This is a semantic expression, not a technical grammatical category.
It does not refer to a special rule in Pāṇini; it simply uses the lexical meaning of apatya (“child, descendant”) as documented in the sources

Wisdom Library

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Why this is not a taddhita term

Although apatya is a major taddhita category, apatya-śatru is not a taddhita derivative.

• There is no taddhita suffix śatru.
• The compound is formed at the semantic/lexical level, not by affixation.

Summary

• Apatya = “offspring; descendant” and the grammatical category for patronymic taddhita affixes

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• Śatru = “enemy.”
• Apatya-śatru = “enemy of one’s offspring,” a normal tatpuruṣa compound, not a technical grammatical term.
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