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流動(dòng)資產(chǎn)

India’s magnificent stepwells are relics of a nuanced history

印度宏偉的階梯井是一段微妙歷史的遺跡

詞匯

Relic/遺跡；遺骸

Nuanced/微妙的；具有細(xì)微差別的

A restoration drive is reviving their glory—and uncovering their wisdom

一場(chǎng)復(fù)興運(yùn)動(dòng)正在恢復(fù)他們的榮耀，并揭露他們的智慧

Jul 13th 2019 | DELHI

THE STORY goes that devout followers of Nizamuddin Auliya, a Sufi saint who lived from 1238 to 1325, had already begun work on his baoli or stepwell when Ghazi Malik, the new sultan of Delhi, ordered all projects to stop until the construction of an impregnable citadel for him was finished. Out of adoration for Nizamuddin, the labourers worked on the fortress by day and the baoli by night. Enraged, Ghazi Malik banned the sale of oil for lamps—whereupon Nizamuddin blessed the well’s water and told his followers to use that instead. Miraculously, it burned.

故事時(shí)這樣展開(kāi)的: 尼扎穆丁·歐里亞（一位生于1238年，逝于1325年的蘇菲派圣人）的虔誠(chéng)的追隨者們,已經(jīng)開(kāi)始在他的印度階梯井的建造工作；而此時(shí)勇士馬利克——德里的新的統(tǒng)治者,命令所有的項(xiàng)目停止,直到完成為他建造一座堅(jiān)不可摧的城堡的項(xiàng)目。出于對(duì)尼扎穆丁的崇拜，工人們白天在為堡壘干活，晚上在致力于階梯井的建設(shè)。憤怒的加齊·馬利克下令禁止油燈的銷(xiāo)售，于是尼扎穆丁為祈求于井水，并告訴他的追隨者改用井水。奇跡般地,井水燃燒了起來(lái)，（發(fā)出了圣光）。

詞匯

Devout/虔誠(chéng)的；衷心的

Ghazi/勇士；抗擊異教徒的勇士

baoli or stepwell/這里baoli指的是印度階梯井（英語(yǔ)：Stepwells；印度語(yǔ)bawdi、baoli）

sultan/蘇丹（某些伊斯蘭國(guó)家統(tǒng)治者的稱(chēng)號(hào)）

Impregnable/堅(jiān)固的，無(wú)法攻取的

Citadel/城堡；大本營(yíng)；避難處

Whereupon/于是；隨之

Today, Nizamuddin remains one of South Asia’s most admired Sufi saints. His message of tolerance and humanity appeals in an age when political leaders preach communal division. Not just Muslims but Hindus, Sikhs and Christians flock to his dargah, or shrine, in New Delhi, where qawwali songs of devotion are performed. Thousands crowd every day down the narrow, beggar-lined passageway that runs alongside the baoli on their way to strewing rose petals on the holy man’s tomb. Many pilgrims believe in the healing power of the baoli water (pictured above).

今天，尼扎穆丁仍然是南亞最受尊敬的蘇菲派圣人之一。在當(dāng)今這個(gè)政治領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人鼓吹社會(huì)分裂的時(shí)代，他所傳遞的寬容和人道的信息頗具吸引力。不僅是穆/斯/林，印度教徒、錫克教徒和基督徒也紛紛涌向他在新德里的達(dá)迦(dargah)或圣地，在那里人們唱著qawwali敬拜之歌。每天都有成千上萬(wàn)的人擠在階梯井邊狹窄的、沿街乞討的過(guò)道上，他們要把玫瑰花瓣撒在圣人的墳?zāi)股?。許多朝圣者相信階梯井水的治療作用(見(jiàn)上圖)。

詞匯

Dargah/達(dá)迦（穆/斯/林圣人的墓或圣殿）

Shrine/圣地；神殿

Petals/花瓣

Pilgrim/朝圣者；漫游者

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Until recently that water was filthy. The tank was full of rubbish; the neighbourhood’s raw sewage flowed into it. Worse, the structure, which is more than 160 feet (49 metres) deep, was in an advanced state of dilapidation. One section of its walls of grey Delhi quartzite had collapsed. Other parts were bulging alarmingly—and, for the dozens of families who had built homes atop them, perilously.

直到最近，那里的水還很臟。河道里裝滿(mǎn)了垃圾;社區(qū)里未經(jīng)處理的污水流入其中。更糟糕的是，這座超過(guò)160英尺(49米)深的建筑已經(jīng)處于破損的晚期。其中一段灰色的德里石英巖墻已經(jīng)倒塌。其他部分也在驚人地膨脹——對(duì)于那些在上面蓋房子的幾十個(gè)家庭來(lái)說(shuō)，這是非常危險(xiǎn)的。

詞匯

Filthy/骯臟的；污穢的

Sewage/污水；下水道；污物

Dilapidation/ ?破損；崩塌

Bulge/?鼓起，隆起

Perilously/危機(jī)四伏地；充滿(mǎn)危險(xiǎn)地

India has thousands of surviving stepwells, but the great majority are similarly run-down. Many others have vanished, often filled in and built upon. This neglectful attitude is extraordinary, for they are one of India’s unsung wonders. At last, through restoration efforts by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), among others, they are starting to get the recognition they deserve.

印度有數(shù)千口現(xiàn)存的梯級(jí)井，但絕大多數(shù)梯級(jí)井也同樣在衰竭。許多其他的已經(jīng)消失，大多是被填補(bǔ)和用于建造的地基。這種忽視的態(tài)度是離奇的，因?yàn)樗麄兪怯《缺宦駴](méi)的奇跡之一。最后，通過(guò)阿加汗文化信托基金(AKTC)等機(jī)構(gòu)的修復(fù)努力，他們開(kāi)始得到應(yīng)有的認(rèn)可。

詞匯

Unsung/未被贊頌的；被埋沒(méi)的

The earliest of the wells date back almost 2,000 years. They were first and foremost a response to a climate in which a year’s rains fall chiefly in the four brief months of the summer monsoon, when they fall at all. The point of the staircases and side ledges is to provide permanent access to ever-fluctuating water levels—and cool shelter in the hottest months. In the north-western regions that are India’s most arid, such as Rajasthan and Gujarat, the baolis underwrote life, as sources of both irrigation and drinking water. They were often located on ancient trade routes. In Delhi, every community once had its own tank.

最早的井可以追溯到2000年前。它們首先是人們對(duì)一種氣候的應(yīng)對(duì)措施，在這種氣候中，一年的降雨主要集中在夏季季風(fēng)的四個(gè)月里，而這四個(gè)月正是雨季來(lái)臨的時(shí)候。樓梯和側(cè)壁架的特點(diǎn)是為不斷波動(dòng)的水位提供永久性的通道，并在最熱的月份提供涼爽的庇護(hù)所。在印度最干旱的西北地區(qū)，如拉賈斯坦邦和古吉拉特邦，梯級(jí)井作為灌溉和飲用水源的方式保障了當(dāng)?shù)厝说纳?。它們?jīng)常坐落在古老的貿(mào)易路線上。在德里，每個(gè)社區(qū)曾經(jīng)都有自己的蓄水池。

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Many stepwells were used for ablution; the tanks associated with mosques, Hindu temples and other shrines offered the most purificatory form. Summoning water from the depths was also a symbol of temporal power. Around Hyderabad in south-central India, many of the baolis were built by kings and zamindars. A surprising number were built at the behest of women, including princesses, courtesans and merchants’ wives, who wished to attain immortality through the gift of water. Indeed, stepwells have always been considered women’s spaces—places to gather without inhibitions, away from men’s domineering eyes (in India, after all, it is traditionally a woman’s job to fetch and carry water). Rani-ki-Vav, or the queen’s stepwell, in Patan in Gujarat, graces the new 100-rupee note.

許多階梯井用于齋戒沐浴;這些井池聯(lián)結(jié)著清真寺、印度寺廟和其他神殿，提供了最潔凈的沐浴形式。從深處召喚水也是世俗力量的象征。在印度中南部的海德拉巴周?chē)?，許多階梯井是由國(guó)王和印度地主們建造的。在女性的要求下，包括公主、交際花和商人的妻子，她們希望通過(guò)水的饋贈(zèng)獲得永生，因此建造了數(shù)量驚人的階梯井。事實(shí)上，階梯井一直被認(rèn)為是女性的空間——一個(gè)不受約束、遠(yuǎn)離男性霸道目光的地方(畢竟，在印度，傳統(tǒng)上取水和挑水是女性的工作)。古吉拉特邦帕坦的“女王階梯井”為新版100盧比增添了一份光彩。

詞匯

Ablution/齋戒沐浴

Mosque/清真寺

Purificatory/凈化的；滌罪的

Zamindar/印度地主

Behest/命令；邀請(qǐng)；請(qǐng)求

Immortality/不朽；不朽的聲名；不滅

Courtesan/交際花

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And, as you descend into them, what mind-boggling structures these wells are. Their early builders were capable of astonishing feats of engineering. The Chand Baori in Abhaneri, east of Jaipur (the capital of Rajasthan), resembles an inverted ziggurat. Its 13 storeys and 3,500 narrow steps prefigure M.C. Escher’s “impossible objects” by centuries. The Panna Meena Ka Kund stepwell (pictured above), also near Jaipur, is another elaborate masterpiece. Hindu embellishments to baolis included covered arcades and pavilions that served as refuges from the heat and even as lodgings. Sculptures and friezes were crammed with gods, animals and humans. Spreading Muslim rule introduced a more austere, though no less impressive, architecture of arches and jaalis (stone lattice windows).

當(dāng)你深入其中，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)這些井是多么令人難以置信的結(jié)構(gòu)。他們?cè)缙诘慕ㄔ煺呔哂畜@人的工程才能。在齋浦爾(拉賈斯坦邦的首都)以東的阿巴涅里，Chand Baori就像一個(gè)倒立的金字型建筑。它的13層樓和3500個(gè)狹窄的臺(tái)階，預(yù)示著m·c·埃舍爾(M.C. Escher)的“不可能的物體”將存在數(shù)百年。同樣位于齋浦爾附近的Panna Meena Ka Kund stepwell(上圖)是另一件精致的杰作。印度人對(duì)階梯井的裝飾包括有頂?shù)墓袄群屯ぷ?，用作避暑的庇護(hù)所，甚至是住所。雕塑和楣板上擠滿(mǎn)了神、動(dòng)物和人類(lèi)。穆/斯/林統(tǒng)治的擴(kuò)張帶來(lái)了一種更為簡(jiǎn)樸，但同樣令人印象深刻的拱門(mén)和賈里斯(石格子窗)建筑。

詞匯

mind-boggling/令人難以置信的；令人驚異的

Ziggurat/金字塔

Elaborate/精心制作的

Embellishment/?裝飾，修飾

Arcade/拱廊

Frieze/裝飾帶；壁緣

Austere/嚴(yán)峻的；簡(jiǎn)樸的

Architecture/建筑學(xué)；建筑風(fēng)格

?

Not a drop to drink

一滴也不喝

But all this was abandoned. The decline of the stepwell began with the British raj, which insisted baolis were unhygienic havens of vermin and disease. They called for them to be filled in or barricaded. The raj’s administrators were blind to their role in socialising and as subterranean caravanserais. Independent India’s encouragement of diesel-powered borewells proved to be the baoli’s death-knell.

但這一切都被拋棄了。階梯井的衰落始于英國(guó)統(tǒng)治時(shí)期，當(dāng)時(shí)的英國(guó)堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為，階梯井是害蟲(chóng)和疾病滋生的不衛(wèi)生的“天堂”。他們要求將其填滿(mǎn)或設(shè)置路障。統(tǒng)治者的管理人員對(duì)它們?cè)谏缃缓偷叵律剃?duì)中的扮演的作用視而不見(jiàn)。獨(dú)立后的印度鼓勵(lì)以柴油為動(dòng)力的鉆井，這被證明是階梯井的喪鐘。

詞匯

Raj/統(tǒng)治；支配

Unhygienic/不衛(wèi)生的；不健康的

Vermin/害蟲(chóng)；寄生蟲(chóng)

Subterranean/地下的；秘密的；隱蔽的

Caravanseray/ ?驛站

diesel-powered/柴油驅(qū)動(dòng)的

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Yet these borewells’ impact on the water table, plus untrammelled urban development, have led to a drastic depletion of natural aquifers and a countrywide water crisis. That is one reason why the restoration efforts of the AKTC and like-minded groups have struck a chord: more Indians are wondering whether old-fashioned water-conservation methods have lessons for today.

然而，這些水井對(duì)地下水位的影響，加上不受限制的城市發(fā)展，導(dǎo)致了自然含水層的急劇枯竭和全國(guó)性的水危機(jī)。這就是AKTC和志同道合的團(tuán)體的修復(fù)努力引起共鳴的原因之一:越來(lái)越多的印度人想知道傳統(tǒng)的水資源保護(hù)方法是否對(duì)今天有借鑒意義。

詞匯

Untrammeled/不受限制的

Depletion/消耗；損耗

Aquifer/蓄水層；含水土層

?

At Nizamuddin dargah, the trust has saved the baoli. Its workers cleared the tank of tonnes of sludge, and relaid the neighbourhood’s sewage pipes. Marrying traditional workmanship with laser scans and ground-penetrating radar, the trust rebuilt the baoli in a form as close to the original as possible. In the process, a subterranean passage from the saint’s tomb to the tank was uncovered, along with water springs and the well’s wooden foundations.

在尼扎穆丁的圣墓，信托基金拯救了階梯井。工人們清理了水池里的數(shù)噸污泥，并重新鋪設(shè)了附近的污水管道。該基金會(huì)將傳統(tǒng)工藝與激光掃描和探地雷達(dá)相結(jié)合，以盡可能接近原始的形式重建了階梯井。在這個(gè)過(guò)程中，一條貫穿圣人的墳?zāi)沟叫钏氐牡叵峦ǖ缽谋话l(fā)現(xiàn)，連同泉水和井的木制基建。

詞匯

Relay/重新鋪設(shè)

Penetrating/滲透的；尖銳的

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Meanwhile, the trust also turned to the adjacent, huge gardens belonging to Humayun’s tomb, a Mughal building of even more breathtaking beauty than the Taj Mahal. The lush grounds are covered in tanks and wells that the trust is restoring. With Ratish Nanda, the AKTC’s enthusiastic head in India, this correspondent recently descended to the bottom of a baoli that was being cleared of centuries of rubble and sludge, bucket by laborious bucket. Two weeks later, water was starting to gush in. One find, covered over by the British, is a 16th-century well built not to capture water, but to ensure it flows back into the underlying aquifer. Mr Nanda says the restoration work has helped raise the area’s water table by several metres.

與此同時(shí)，信托基金還轉(zhuǎn)向了毗鄰的巨大花園，屬于呼瑪雍陵墓，一座比泰姬陵更美得驚人的莫臥兒王朝建筑。郁郁蔥蔥的土地上布滿(mǎn)了水池和水井，信托人員正在恢復(fù)。與AKTC在印度的熱心負(fù)責(zé)人拉蒂什?南達(dá)(Ratish Nanda)一起，本報(bào)記者最近來(lái)到了一個(gè)階梯井的底部；人們正在一桶又一桶辛苦勞作，清理數(shù)百年來(lái)的瓦礫和污泥。兩周后，水開(kāi)始涌進(jìn)來(lái)。其中一處發(fā)現(xiàn)被英國(guó)人發(fā)現(xiàn)，這是16世紀(jì)建造的一口井，不是為了取水，而是為了確保水能流回地下含水層。南達(dá)表示，修復(fù)工作幫助該地區(qū)的地下水位提高了幾米。

詞匯

Bucket/桶，水桶

Next door, in Sunder Nursery, the trust has converted 90 acres (36 hectares) of abandoned land into the sooty capital’s first new park in years, laid out as a classical Persian garden. Again, tanks and wells are an essential component. “Delhi needed a refuge,” says Mr Nanda. The gardens have become one of the most popular spots for the city’s families and lovers. The AKTC is now taking on the most ambitious project yet: a 106-acre site in Hyderabad, where seven stepwells were built by the Qutb Shabi dynasty in ornate, white-plastered granite. As became clear during the restoration, they were linked by underground channels that also connect to aquifers.

在隔壁的桑德?tīng)柾袃核?Sunder Nursery)，該信托基金將90英畝(36公頃)的廢棄土地改造成了這座被煙塵籠罩的首都數(shù)年來(lái)的第一個(gè)新公園，規(guī)劃為一座古典波斯花園。同樣，水池和井也是必不可少的組成部分?！暗吕镄枰粋€(gè)避難所，”南達(dá)表示。這些花園已經(jīng)成為這座城市最受家庭和情侶歡迎的景點(diǎn)之一。AKTC目前正在進(jìn)行迄今為止最具雄心的項(xiàng)目:在海德拉巴占地106英畝的土地上，這里曾有著庫(kù)特布沙比王朝(Qutb Shabi dynasty)在華麗的白色石膏花崗巖上建造了7口階梯井。很明顯，在修復(fù)期間，它們通過(guò)地下通道相連，地下通道也連接著含水層。

詞匯

Sooty/烏黑的；煤煙熏黑的

Ornate/ ?華麗的；裝飾的

Plastered/醉醺醺的；涂得厚厚的

Granite/花崗巖

Some of the obstacles to this effort are not physical but political. To help pay for its conservation work, the trust seeks donations from Indian companies. Yet supporters of the Hindu-nationalist government of Narendra Modi, the prime minister, dislike the idea of a body headed by the Aga Khan, an Islamic leader, being involved in Indian cultural work; besides, the Hindutva agenda is to expunge Mughal influence from Indian life, as if it were an alien, Muslim carbuncle rather than an intrinsic part of the country’s inheritance. They are said to have been leaning on companies not to donate. That arid worldview is refuted by the joyful families picnicking in Sunder Nursery, and the devotion of pilgrims at Nizamuddin baoli.

這項(xiàng)努力的一些障礙不是物質(zhì)上的，而是政治上的。為了幫助支付保護(hù)工作的費(fèi)用，該基金會(huì)尋求印度公司的捐款。然而，印度總理納倫德拉?莫迪(Narendra Modi)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的印度教民族主義政府的支持者不喜歡由伊斯蘭領(lǐng)袖阿加汗(Aga Khan)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的機(jī)構(gòu)參與印度文化工作;此外，Hindutva的議程是要從印度生活中抹去莫臥兒王朝的影響，就好像它是一種外來(lái)的穆/斯/林紅玉，而不是這個(gè)國(guó)家遺產(chǎn)的固有部分。據(jù)說(shuō)他們一直要求公司不要捐款。那些在桑德?tīng)柾袃核安偷目鞓?lè)家庭，以及在尼扎穆丁保利朝圣的虔誠(chéng)信徒，都駁斥了這種枯燥的世界觀。

詞匯

Carbuncle/ ?[中醫(yī)] 癰；紅寶石

refute/反駁，駁斥；駁倒

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