評論
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.
阿育王鐫刻在石柱上的政治與道德哲學開啟了宗教自由、非暴力抗爭與追尋幸福的傳統，影響了此后的印度政治理念。
But-and it's a big but-his benevolent empire scarcely outlived him.
但遺憾的是，他仁慈的帝國在他死后未能持久，
And that leaves us with the uncomfortable question of whether such high ideals can survive the realities of political power.
人不禁想問，崇高的政治理想是否敵不過現實政治的殘酷？
Nevertheless, this was a ruler who really did change the way that his subjects and their successors thought.
令但他的想法確實深切地影響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.
甘地與尼赫魯都是他的追隨者。有關他的信息甚至出現在了現代貨幣上。印度的每一張鈔票上都繪有甘地頭像，面對著阿育王石柱上的四只獅子。
The architects of Indian independence had him often in their mind. Here's Amartya Sen again:
這位印度獨立的領導人一直敬仰著阿育王。但阿馬蒂亞森指出，
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.
阿育王的影響力波及更遠，整個印度次大陸都將他視為啟蒙者與政治典范：
But the one that the Indians particularly emphasised at the time of independence is his secularism and democracy in Ashokan thought.
在獨立運動時期，印度人特別強調阿育王的民主與政教分離觀念。
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，他在中國、日本、韓國、泰國和斯里蘭卡都廣受尊敬。他是整個亞洲的偶像。
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.
下一節我將介紹另一種碑文，以及另一位與宗教關系密切的統治者。但那宗教現已消亡，這位統治者對后世也沒有什么影響力—事實上， 他一直都只是一個無足輕重的君王。
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.
但這塊碑石卻是整個大英博物館， 乃至整個世界上最著名的文物之一。
