美国国家公共电台 NPR Indians Are Partying And Praying For Elephant-Headed God Ganesh

 

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The Indian coastal¹ city of Mumbai hosts one of the country's biggest festivals honoring Lord Ganesha. He's the Hindu god who has a human body and an elephant head. The faithful pray before idols³ of him and then immerse them in bodies of water. Here's NPR's Lauren Frayer from Mumbai and the culmination⁴ of the 10-day festival.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in foreign language).

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE⁵: It's like a sea of people that comes down to meet the Arabian Sea, all hoisting⁶ statues of the elephant god Lord Ganesha on their shoulders. There are families. Behind me, there's a pack of teenage boys with a rainbow elephant on their shoulders. They do a prayer in the sand, and then they move slowly down to the sea and submerge their idol².

AMRUTA SAVANT: Before we immerse, we believe that we have to tell our wishes in Ganesha's ears, so those wishes get fulfilled next year.

FRAYER: Amruta Savant is here with her uncles and children all singing.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in Marathi).

FRAYER: Praise Lord Ganesha in the local Marathi language - then they kneel down one by one and whisper their wishes into the statue's ears. Ganesh - or Lord Ganesha - is the Hindu god of wisdom and good luck. And Amruta says he's been good to her family.

SAVANT: We have a lot of faith. And we have seen the time from where, you know, like, we used to not spend so much. And the celebration was limited. But every year, we have prosperity. And we are getting our wishes fulfilled. So you know the faith goes on increasing.

FRAYER: Lifeguards man the beach as faithful, young and old, wade⁷ into the waves. They believe when Lord Ganesha is submerged, he goes straight to heaven.

SAVANT: We just dip him three times. And the third time, we leave him in the water. It will melt in the sea itself.

FRAYER: Many of the idols are now biodegradable, so they don't wash up later or pollute marine⁸ life. Whole neighborhoods erect⁹ stages with huge statues. In Mumbai's largest slum, idols adorn¹⁰ a warren of impeccably clean, little shacks¹¹. Suraj Hattarkal gives tours of them and explains the history.

SURAJ HATTARKAL: People, you know, pray to Lord Ganesh from centuries. But how it turned to be a festival - it has been only started in 1893, when India was under British rule. And a free India independence thing was happening, so there was a curfew declared.

FRAYER: Public gatherings¹² were banned, except for religious ones. So an Indian freedom fighter invented this festival as a cover.

HATTARKAL: He misled the British, saying it's - we have a 10-days festival. And we have to come together and pray for 10 days. So this was the trick to bring the whole community and share all the revolutionary things.

FRAYER: Nowadays, it's a massive party - dancing, drumming. People hand out food in the streets.

ASHISH TIVARI: Everybody shares. We have food for 200 to 300 people.

FRAYER: Ashish Tivari is a medical student here with his neighbors and 8-year-old Vinayak.

VINAYAK: Hi. Hi. I am also his neighbor.

FRAYER: What does Ganesh mean to you?

VINAYAK: He's a god, our god.

FRAYER: And do you make a wish?

VINAYAK: Yes.

FRAYER: What is your wish?

VINAYAK: It is a secret.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in foreign language).

FRAYER: Lauren Frayer, NPR News, Mumbai.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in foreign language).

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

3 idols   

偶像( idol的名词复数 )； 受崇拜的人或物； 受到热爱和崇拜的人或物； 神像

参考例句：

• The genii will give evidence against those who have worshipped idols. 魔怪将提供证据来反对那些崇拜偶像的人。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史
• Teenagers are very sequacious and they often emulate the behavior of their idols. 青少年非常盲从，经常模仿他们的偶像的行为。

4 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 hoisting   

起重，提升

参考例句：

• The hoisting capacity of that gin pole (girder pole, guy derrick) is sixty tons. 那个起重抱杆（格状抱杆、转盘抱杆）的起重能力为60吨。 来自口语例句
• We must use mechanical hoisting to load the goods. 我们必须用起重机来装载货物。

7 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

8 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

9 erect   

n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的

参考例句：

• She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头，把背挺得笔直。
• Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。

10 adorn   

vt.使美化，装饰

参考例句：

• She loved to adorn herself with finery.她喜欢穿戴华丽的服饰。
• His watercolour designs adorn a wide range of books.他的水彩设计使许多图书大为生色。

11 shacks   

n.窝棚，简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They live in shacks which they made out of wood. 他们住在用木头搭成的简陋的小屋里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most people in Port au-Prince live in tin shacks. 太子港的大多数居民居住在铁皮棚里。 来自互联网

12 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。