纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 042鸠摩罗笈多王一世金币（7）

Under the Guptas, the central deities¹ of Hinduism and their worship assumed a form that has dominated the religious landscape of India from that day to this, and in recent years, this Hindu aspect of the Gupta's religious activities has loomed² large in historians' accounts of their reign³. As the Delhi-based historian Romila Thapar explains, the Guptas continue to make their presence felt in India today, not only in the monuments left behind, but also in the way that the period is used politically:

在笈多王朝的统治下，印度教的主神及其供奉方式成为定制，至今仍支配着印度的宗教格局。近年来，不少历史学家都在探讨笈多王朝中的印度教活动。新德里贾瓦哈拉尔尼赫鲁大学古印度史荣誉退休教授罗米拉塔帕解释说，在今天的印度还能感受到笈多王朝的存在，不仅因为他们留下的建筑物，也包括一些政治方式：

"When colonial history began to be written, and then there was nationalist historical writing, the Gupta period was latched⁴ on to as the golden age. There has grown in India in the last few decades, a way of thinking which has been called Hindutva, which is an attempt to suggest that the only person that has legitimacy⁵ as a citizen of India, is the Hindu, because the Hindu is supposed to be the indigenous⁶ inhabitant.Everybody else-the Muslims, the Christians⁷, the Parsees-all came later and came from outside, they were foreign. Never mind the fact that they are all, 99 per cent of them, of Indian blood. And the Gupta period then came in for a great deal of attention as a result of this kind of thinking."

在开始记述印度殖民史时，有一种民族主义的书写方式将笈多王朝称为黄金时代。过去几十年，一种叫印度教徒主义的理论逐渐壮大，他们认为只有印度教信徒才是印度的合法居民。因为只有印度教是土生土长的。穆斯林、基督徒、祆教徒都是后期从国外来的。可他们却没考虑过这些教徒中99%都是纯印度人。正是因为这种思潮，笈多王朝重新受到重视。

This seems surprising, because as the two coins we've looked at show, the Guptas not only established temple Hinduism in something like its modern form, but they also honoured older religious traditions, and were generous protectors of both Buddhism⁸ and Jainism.

这实在令人惊讶。正如我们的金币所示，笈多王朝虽然建立了印度教的全新形式，但他们也尊奉旧有的宗教传统。同时，他们还大力保护与耆那教，并无排外性。

1 deities   

n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明

参考例句：

• Zeus and Aphrodite were ancient Greek deities. 宙斯和阿佛洛狄是古希腊的神。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Taoist Wang hesitated occasionally about these transactions for fearof offending the deities. 道士也有过犹豫，怕这样会得罪了神。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文

2 loomed   

v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
• The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 latched   

v.理解( latch的过去式和过去分词 )；纠缠；用碰锁锁上（门等）；附着（在某物上）

参考例句：

• The government have latched onto environmental issues to win votes. 政府已开始大谈环境问题以争取选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He latched onto us and we couldn't get rid of him. 他缠着我们，甩也甩不掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

7 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

8 Buddhism   

n.佛教（教义）

参考例句：

• Buddhism was introduced into China about 67 AD.佛教是在公元67年左右传入中国的。
• Many people willingly converted to Buddhism.很多人情愿皈依佛教。