纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 068湿婆与雪山女神像（3）（在线收听）

It's a stone slab of about six feet (180 cm) high and three feet (90 cm) wide and, although it would originally have been brightly coloured, it is now a deep gleaming black. We don't know which temple it's from, but it was clearly from a very highly prized one, because you could hardly carve more decoration onto it. Dozens of tiny figures swarm around the edges and here, in the middle, on a much larger scale, is Shiva himself. We know he's Shiva because he's carrying his trademark trident, and he rests one foot on the back of the sacred bull that he often rides. The sculptor has carved the body of Shiva in very full relief, so as I approach it, I have a growing sense of a god who is physically present - and this is surely intended, because this sculpture is designed to bring me close to the god, to allow me in a sense to converse with Shiva, as the Hindu academic and cleric Shaunaka Rishi Das explains:

"The physical manifestation of the image is considered to be a great aid in focus of the mind, and in gaining what they call 'darshan' or the presence of God. So you practice the presence of God in your life by going to the temple, you see this image that is the presence, you bow down in front of the image, you offer food or incense etc, you say your prayers, or you just enjoy the presence of God."

这座雕像来自奥里萨的某座湿婆庙，是一块高两米、宽一米的石板。它原本应有鲜艳的颜色，如今只剩略带光泽的深黑。装饰之繁，无以复加。石板边缘雕刻着数十位小型神，中间体型最大的则是湿婆，他标志性的三叉戟以及被他踩住后背的一头神牛（他常用的坐骑）帮助我们确定了这一身份。湿婆的身体被雕刻得极为立体，观者越靠近便越会感觉到一位神切实的存在。制作雕像的本意便是让观者接近湿婆神，并在某种意义上与他交流。印度教学者兼神职人员夏纳格·瑞西·达斯解释说：

以实体形式表现的神像有助于集中精神，获取所谓的“福德”，即感受到神的存在。通过去寺庙，你得以感受到神在生活中的存在。你从神像中体会到他的存在，你向他跪拜，供上食物，敬上香，祈福，或者只是单纯因他的存在而喜悦。