纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 042鸠摩罗笈多王一世金币（3）

Only stable, rich and powerful states can commission great art and architecture, which unlike text or language, can be instantly understood by anyone-very valuable in multi-lingual empires.

只有强盛稳定的国家能出现伟大的艺术与建筑，它们比语言文字直观得多，只要一眼便可以了解，这在多语言的大帝国中是极大的优势只有。

But, whereas in Rome Christianity was soon imposed as the exclusive religion of the Empire, for the Gupta kings worship of the Hindu gods was always only one of the ways in which the divine could be apprehended¹ and embraced. This is a world that seems to be at ease with complexity², happy to live with many truths, and indeed to proclaim them all as an official part of the state, and we can glimpse something of the richness of this Gupta religious landscape through two gold coins.

在罗马，基督教迅速成为唯一的国教，但在印度，印度教对笈多王来说只是接近神祇的方式之一。看起来，这个世界能轻松地面对复杂状况，让不同的真理和谐共存，并宣布它们都得到国家承认。我们通过两枚金币可以看到笈多王宗一些丰富的教景观。

I'm in the study room of our Coins and Medals Department, and in front of me I've got two coins of the Indian king Kumaragupta I, who ruled from AD 414 to 455.

我正身处大英博物馆的钱币与勋章馆，我手里的就是这里藏有的2枚印度国王鸠摩罗笈多一世的金币，他于公元414年至455年在位。

And they're two coins that show very different aspects of this king's religious life. They're each almost exactly the size of a one penny coin, but they're made of solid gold and, like all small gold objects, they sit quite heavily in the hand.

这两枚硬币表现了国王的宗教信仰中极为不同的几个方面。它们由黄金制成，大小与英国的一便士相当，拿在手里颇有分量。

On the first coin, where you'd normally expect to see the king, there's a horse-a magnificent standing³ stallion. He's decorated with ribbons, and a great pennant⁴ flutters over his head, and around the coin, in Sanskrit, is the inscription⁵ that translates: "King Kumaragupta, the supreme⁶ lord, who has conquered his enemies".

在第一枚硬币上，别国通常用来雕刻国王头像的位置，刻着一匹神骏的牡马，身上装饰着彩带，头顶上飘着一面三角旗幡。金币边缘有一句梵语，意为“鸠摩罗笈多一世，至尊王者，克敌制胜”。

1 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

2 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 pennant   

n.三角旗；锦标旗

参考例句：

• The second car was flying the Ghanaian pennant.第二辆车插着加纳的三角旗。
• The revitalized team came from the cellar to win the pennant.该队重整旗鼓，从最后一名一跃而赢得冠军奖旗。

5 inscription   

n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文

参考例句：

• The inscription has worn away and can no longer be read.铭文已磨损，无法辨认了。
• He chiselled an inscription on the marble.他在大理石上刻碑文。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。