varṇānupūrvī hi padamiṣṭaṃ na sphoṭas tasyāś ca puruṣecchādhīnatvād anityatvam ato varṇānām apyanityatvaṃ prāpnoti /
For the word is accepted to be the sequence of letters, not the sphoṭa, and since this [sequence] depends on human will, it is non-eternal; therefore the letters too must be non-eternal.