Dear Mr Jha,

Thank you for your comments, but as you may have seen, there are also examples of the masculine use of padma in "post-paninian poetry". Another example of this usage is Vidyākara's Subhāṣitaratnakośa 33.49 (= 1067) :

upālabhyo nāyaṃ sakalabhuvanāścaryamahimā
harer nābhīpadmaḥ prabhavati hi sarvatra niyatiḥ
yad atraiva brahmā pibati nijam āyur madhu punar
vilumpanti svedādhikam amṛtahṛdyaṃ madhulihaḥ


Or, Naiṣadhīyacarita (15.46):
padadvaye ’syā navayāvarañjanā janais tadānīm udanīyatārpitā
cirāya padmau parirabhya jāgratī niśīva viśliṣya navā ravidyutiḥ

Or, Bāṇa's Harṣacarita:
āśliṣyāsya sakaladurmadamahīpālamaulimālālālitau pādapadmāv antastāpān mukhacandram iva dravībhavantaṃ
daśanajyotsnājālam iva jalatām āpadyamānaṃ locanalāvaṇyam iva vilīyamānaṃ mukhasudhārasam iva syandamānam acchāccham aśrusrotasāṃ saṃtānaṃ mahāmeghamayavilocana iva varṣan nitaravad vimuktārāvaś ciraṃ ruroda.

(I owe the reference to the Naiṣadhīyacarita and the Harṣacarita to Walter Slaje.)

Since many classical works are still not available in critical editions, it is not always possible to say for sure whether a text originally read e.g. padme or padmau, especially since the tradition might tend to the supposedly correct padme in the course of time.

With kind regards,
Roland Steiner