纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 042鸠摩罗笈多王一世金币（4）

Why put a horse on the coin, instead of the king? This looks back to an ancient sacrificial ritual-established long before Hinduism-that had been observed by the Indian kings of the past, and was preserved and continued by the Guptas. It was an awesome¹ and elaborate year-long process that a king might opt² to do once in his reign³. It cost a fortune, and culminated⁴ in a massive theatrical⁵ event: the sacrifice itself. Kumaragupta decided⁶ that he would perform this rite⁷.

为什么硬币上的形象是马而不是国王？这源自印度教诞生之前就已存在的一种古老的祭祀仪式，之前的印度国王一直奉行，笈多的国王也将其继承了下来。这种仪式，位国王一生中也许只能举行一次，因其步骤繁复可怖，持续时间更是长达一年，要耗费大量钱财，并以大规模夸张的杀生献祭作为结束。鸠摩罗笈多一世决定要举办一次。

A stallion was selected and ritually purified, then released to roam for a year, followed and observed by a vast escort of princes, heralds⁸ and attendants. A key part of their job was to prevent it from mating: the stallion had to remain pure. At the end of its year of sexually-frustrated freedom, the horse was retrieved⁹ in a complex set of ceremonies before being killed by the king himself, using a gold knife, in front of a vast audience. Our gold coin commemorates¹⁰ Kumaragupta's performance of this ancient pre-Hindu ritual, that had reaffirmed his legitimacy¹¹ and his supremacy¹². But at the same time, Kumaragupta was vigorously promoting other, newer, religious practices, invoking¹³ other gods in support of his earthly power. He was spending large amounts of money on building temples and filling them with statues and paintings of the Hindu gods, making them manifest to the worshippers in a new and striking form. He was, in fact, creating the gods anew.

他们选中了一匹牡马，净身仪式后，放它出去漫游一年。一支由王子、信差及仆从组成的队伍一直尾随并观察它。他们的主要任务之一是阻止它交配:牡马必须保持纯洁。在整整一年无法交配但自由自在的生活之后，牡马被抓回来，经过一系列复杂仪式后交给国王，由国王在众人面前用金刀亲手将其杀死。我们这枚金币便是为了纪念鸠摩罗笈多一世所完成的这一比印度教还古老的仪式。该仪式再次确认了他的王统与无上的权力。但与此同时，鸠摩罗笈多一世也急于推动其他较新的宗教活动，希望得到其他神灵的扶持，以巩固自己在人世的地位。他花费了大笔金钱修建神庙，在寺内广树雕像，绘制壁画，用新颖动人的形式来吸引信徒。事实上，正是他与当时的许多人一起，重塑了神灵的形象。

What sort of relationship, between devotee and deity¹⁴, was being encouraged during this flourishing of Hinduism under the Guptas?

在笈多王朝，印度教蓬勃发展之际，信徒与神之间形成了一种怎样的关系？

1 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

2 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

3 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

4 culminated   

v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• a gun battle which culminated in the death of two police officers 一场造成两名警察死亡的枪战
• The gala culminated in a firework display. 晚会以大放烟火告终。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 rite   

n.典礼，惯例，习俗

参考例句：

• This festival descends from a religious rite.这个节日起源于宗教仪式。
• Most traditional societies have transition rites at puberty.大多数传统社会都为青春期的孩子举行成人礼。

8 heralds   

n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要）

参考例句：

• The song of birds heralds the approach of spring. 百鸟齐鸣报春到。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The wind sweeping through the tower heralds a rising storm in the mountain. 山雨欲来风满楼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 retrieved   

v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息）

参考例句：

• Yesterday I retrieved the bag I left in the train. 昨天我取回了遗留在火车上的包。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He reached over and retrieved his jacket from the back seat. 他伸手从后座上取回了自己的夹克。 来自辞典例句

10 commemorates   

n.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的名词复数 )v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A tombstone is erected in memory of whoever it commemorates. 墓碑是为纪念它所纪念的人而建的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A tablet commemorates his patriotic activities. 碑文铭记他的爱国行动。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

12 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

13 invoking   

v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• You can customise the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• You can customize the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。 来自辞典例句

14 deity   

n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物)

参考例句：

• Many animals were seen as the manifestation of a deity.许多动物被看作神的化身。
• The deity was hidden in the deepest recesses of the temple.神藏在庙宇壁龛的最深处。