纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 068湿婆与雪山女神像（9）（在线收听）

Stuart spoke out strongly against missionary attempts to convert Hindus to Christianity. He thought it simply impertinent, and his intention always was that his collection should be seen in England to persuade the British to honour this great world religion. Stuart would, I'm sure, be pleased that after two hundred years, his sculpture of Shiva and Parvati, made around 1300 to welcome worshippers to a temple in Orissa, is still on show to the public. And he'd be delighted that many of those who come to see it are British Hindus - part of that large population of Indian descent that now lives in the UK.

Although the stories of Hinduism are increasingly taught in British schools, some of us not brought up as Hindus struggle to master the complicated theology that embraces many deities in many manifestations. But it would be hard to stand in front of this sculpture, and not grasp immediately one of the central insights of this great religious tradition - that God may perhaps best be conceived not as a single isolated spirit, but as a joyous loving couple, and that physical love is not evidence of fallen humanity, but an essential part of the divine. This sculpture does indeed make God seem very close.

In the next programme, we'll be in Mexico, thinking about how a different religious system at the same date took a very different - and much less happy - view of the gods, of humanity, and of sex.

图亚特大声疾呼，反对游说印度教徒饭依基督的传教行为，认为其十分可耻。他也一直希望自己的藏品能够在英国展出，让大家崇敬这一伟大的世界性宗教。我相信，斯图亚特如果有知，一定很高兴看到在两百年后，他收藏的湿婆与雪山女神雕像仍然在大英博物馆公开展示。这一制作于公元一千三百年的雕像，其初衷就是欢迎前来朝拜的信徒。他也会很高兴地看到，在如今前来参观的英国人中，有许多是印度教徒。

英国教科书上有关印度教的内容逐渐增多，但多数不曾自幼受印度教熏陶的人仍然很难理解有多重化身、多位神的复杂的印度教系统。然而，只要站在这座雕像前，你便能立刻感受到这一伟大宗教传统的核心教义：神也许不应该被设定为孤单的个体，而该是一对恩爱的欢乐夫妻。肉体欢愉不是人类的堕落，而是神性不可或缺的一部分。