纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 042鸠摩罗笈多王一世金币（4）（在线收听）

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 awesome and elaborate year-long process that a king might opt to do once in his reign. It cost a fortune, and culminated in a massive theatrical event: the sacrifice itself. Kumaragupta decided that he would perform this rite.

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, heralds 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 retrieved 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 commemorates Kumaragupta's performance of this ancient pre-Hindu ritual, that had reaffirmed his legitimacy and his supremacy. But at the same time, Kumaragupta was vigorously promoting other, newer, religious practices, invoking 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 deity, 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？