纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 054度母雕像(5)（在线收听）

Tara probably stood inside a temple, and there must have been a matching sculpture of her male consort, Avalokiteshvara, nearby, but his image has not survived.

这尊度母像当年很可能立于某座庙宇内，起初身边一定还有与她相配的男身观世音雕像，但后者没有被保存下来。

Strictly speaking Tara was not made to be worshipped, but to be a focus for meditation on the qualities she embodies-compassion and the power to save. She would have been seen essentially by priests or monks from a privileged elite-so in fact relatively few would actually have been able to meditate on her image.

严格说来，度母像并非用于信徒膜拜，而是为了让人对它所代表的慈悲为怀与法力无边进行冥想。她的金身基本只有上层社会的僧侣才能看到，因此只有极少数人能对着她的形象冥思。

Standing in front of her now, in the gallery, we can. And knowing something of what she meant to believers, we can better understand why her makers chose to represent her as they did. Her beauty and her serenity speak of her endless compassion. Her right hand, held down by her side, is not at rest, but in the position known as 'varada mudra', the gesture of granting a wish-a clear demonstration of her prime role as the generous helper of the faithful. Her gilded skin, and the jewels that once adorned her, make it clear that this statue of Tara can only have been commissioned by people in command of enormous wealth.

在了解了她所代表的意义之后，站在她面前，我们就更能体会制作者何以选择这样的方式来表现她的形象。她的美丽与宁静象征着无尽的慈悲。她垂在体侧的右手臂并不是放松的，而是作予愿印，表明她作为信徒的慷慨救助者的首要身份。镀金与装饰用的珠宝证明这尊度母一定是富人委托制造的。

It's very rare for a statue of this scale to survive; indeed, we know of no other example of this size from medieval Sri Lanka. At this date most large bronze statues would be cast by pouring the metal around a hollow clay core. Tara by contrast is bronze through and through, so whoever made her must have had a great deal of bronze, rare skill and a lot of experience of this very challenging kind of work. Tara is not just beautiful; she is a remarkable technical achievement, and she must have been very, very expensive.

如此大型的雕像鲜少能逃脱被重铸的命运,至少在中世纪斯里兰卡的文物中，我们没有找到任何一个类似的雕像。现存同一时期的大型雕像多数是将金属浇铸在泥坯上制成，是空心的，而这一尊与其形成鲜明对比，是实心的。不管制作者是谁，必然掌握了大量的青铜、稀世的工艺及丰富的铸造高难度雕像的经验。它不只是一件美丽的艺术品，也是高超工艺的集大成者，当年必定价值连城。