एते चाऽन्ये च बहवो वेदवेदाङ्गपारगाः । ज्ञातज्ञेया महात्मान आस्थितास्तत्र नायकाः ॥ २७ ॥
ētē cā’nyē ca bahavō vēdavēdāṅgapāragāḥ | jñātajñēyā mahātmāna āsthitāstatra nāyakāḥ || 27 ||
Translation
These and many others, masters of the Veda and its limbs, great souls who had known what is to be known, sat there as leaders.
Word by word
- ētē
- these
- ca
- and
- anyē
- others
- bahavō
- (bahavaḥ) many
- vēda
- of the Veda
- vēdāṅga
- and its limbs
- pāragāḥ
- masters
- jñāta
- who had known
- jñēyā
- (jñeyāḥ) what is to be known
- mahātmāna
- (mahātmānaḥ) great souls
- āsthitās
- (āsthitāḥ) sat
- tatra
- there
- nāyakāḥ
- as leaders
Meaning
The summary of the list. All these are masters (pāraga, "those who have crossed to the far side") of the Veda and its auxiliary sciences, and, more importantly, jñāta-jñeyāḥ, "those who have known what is to be known". Learning and realisation are named separately. The first is knowledge of the texts; the second is knowledge of what the texts point to. The reader may notice that the text honours both, and does not confuse them.