评论
打印
Ashoka's political and moral philosophy-as he expressed it in his imperial inscriptions-initiated a tradition of religious tolerance, non-violent debate and a commitment to the idea of happiness which have animated Indian political philosophy ever since.
阿育王镌刻在石柱上的政治与道德哲学开启了宗教自由、非暴力抗争与追寻幸福的传统，影响了此后的印度政治理念。
But-and it's a big but-his benevolent empire scarcely outlived him.
但遗憾的是，他仁慈的帝国在他死后未能持久，
And that leaves us with the uncomfortable question of whether such high ideals can survive the realities of political power.
人不禁想问，崇高的政治理想是否敌不过现实政治的残酷？
Nevertheless, this was a ruler who really did change the way that his subjects and their successors thought.
令但他的想法确实深切地影响了他的臣民及其后代。
Ghandi was an admirer, as was Nehru, and Ashoka even today finds his way on to the currency-on all the Indian banknotes we see Gandhi facing the four lions of Ashoka's pillar.
甘地与尼赫鲁都是他的追随者。有关他的信息甚至出现在了现代货币上。印度的每一张钞票上都绘有甘地头像，面对着阿育王石柱上的四只狮子。
The architects of Indian independence had him often in their mind. Here's Amartya Sen again:
这位印度独立的领导人一直敬仰着阿育王。但阿马蒂亚森指出，
So that's one part-the duty of the ruler to do good to the world and to his subjects-that's the point that H. G. Wells picks up in locating Ashoka as a big figure in the history of the world.
阿育王的影响力波及更远，整个印度次大陆都将他视为启蒙者与政治典范：
But the one that the Indians particularly emphasised at the time of independence is his secularism and democracy in Ashokan thought.
在独立运动时期，印度人特别强调阿育王的民主与政教分离观念。
But he is a big figure also in China, in Japan, in Korea, in Thailand, in Sri Lanka, and so he is also in that sense a pan-Asian figure.
此外，他在中国、日本、韩国、泰国和斯里兰卡都广受尊敬。他是整个亚洲的偶像。
In the next programme we are dealing with another inscription and another ruler closely linked with a religious system, but in this case the religion is now dead and the ruler is no longer of any consequence-indeed he never really was.
下一节我将介绍另一种碑文，以及另一位与宗教关系密切的统治者。但那宗教现已消亡，这位统治者对后世也没有什么影响力—事实上， 他一直都只是一个无足轻重的君王。
But the inscription is one of the most famous objects in the British Museum-and possibly in the world-because it's written on the Rosetta Stone.
但这块碑石却是整个大英博物馆， 乃至整个世界上最著名的文物之一。
