Rediscovering treasures of Bamiyan

Rediscovering treasures of Bamiyan

By Alastair Leithead,
BBC News, Bamiyan

When the Buddhas of Bamiyan were carved out of the mountainside, the Roman Empire still held sway.

巴米安的大佛自山壁雕鑿而出之際，羅馬帝國仍稱霸著一方。

They towered over a rich valley in what is now central Afghanistan, where caravans of traders would stop and rest on the Silk Road as they transported goods between east and west.

佛像高高地聳立於富庶的河谷，也就是現今阿富汗的中部，在絲綢之路上的商隊，載運各式各樣的物品往返於東西方之間，都會選擇在此地佇足休息。

For centuries the two huge statues stood guard over Bamiyan.

兩尊立著的巨大佛像，幾世紀以來，一直守護著巴米安。

But in 2001, just months before they were forced from power, the Taleban dynamited what they considered un-Islamic representations of the human form.

但2001年，就在塔利班被推翻的幾個月前，佛像就因人形塑像違反伊斯蘭教義而被塔利班以炸藥炸毀。

Today all that remains are the recesses where they stood, and the labyrinth of fragile caves surrounding them.

之前佛像佇立著的地方已空蕩蕩的，只剩下迷宮般脆弱的石窟依舊環伺。

Iconic art

Today there isn't even a paved road connecting the valley to Kabul, but yet inside the caves are a reminder of Bamiyan's past wealth and glory and a new claim to fame that could put the province back on the map.

雖然Kabul和這片河谷之間至今依舊沒一條鋪設完備的道路，但石窟的內部還是不斷的喚起世人對昔日巴米安富裕輝煌的記憶，而且最近大出風頭的發現讓這個省份又再度聲明大噪。

Inside those caves the steep, narrow steps are crumbling, there are cracks in the mud tunnels carved into the mountainside, and still visible high in the echoing chambers are pieces of Buddhist iconic art which are now thought to be the oldest oil paintings in the world.

石窟內部陡峭狹窄的臺階正逐漸在崩壞，鑿進山壁的泥道也出現許多裂縫，會產生回音的內部空間的高處依稀可見一幅幅佛像，這些作品目前被認為是世上最早的油畫。



Japanese, European and American scientists restoring the cave murals dating back to around 650AD, discovered oil was used in the paint.

前來修復這座擁有公元650年壁畫的石窟的日本、歐洲及美國科學家們，發現當時壁畫所使用的顏料中還參入了油。

Yoko Taniguchi, one of the Japanese experts working on the caves, told reporters this is the earliest known use of this technique in the history of art.

其中一位在石窟裡工作的日本專家Yoko Taniguchi告訴記者們這在藝術史上，是目前已知最早使用這種技術的。

She said it was previously thought the technique originated in Europe during the Renaissance, eight centuries later.

她說，之前普遍都認為這樣的技術是起源於八個世紀後的歐洲文藝復興時期。

But wandering through the Buddhist temples carved out of the rock, there is little left of the murals destroyed in the last 30 years of war after surviving for centuries.

但是漫步穿梭在石刻的佛寺之中，你會發現經歷了漫長幾個世紀的壁畫，在最近30年間的戰爭中已遭毀壞並且所剩無幾。

A tourist guidebook to Afghanistan written in the 1960s and 70s by Nancy Dupree, a famous traveller who dedicated much of her life to the country, gave an account of the artwork as it was then.

著名的旅行家Nancy Dupree幾乎將她的一生全部奉獻給阿富汗，她在1960年與1970年間寫了一部阿富汗旅遊指南，裡頭有對這些藝術品的描述。

Fragments

"The rest of the hall is elaborately decorated in a varied palette of burnt sienna, green, lapis lazuli blue, and yellow ochre depicting flowers, trees, stylised floral sprays, cornucopias and figures of kneeling worshipers," she wrote.

她寫道: "走廊其餘的部份到處都有精巧的裝飾，滿是用褐色、綠色、天青石藍、黃土色等各種顏色來描繪的花朵，樹木，植物花葉飾物，各種富饒的象徵以及跪拜著的信徒畫像，"

"A series of Buddhas dressed in sombre-hued maroon robes and framed with aureoles against an azure background walk on lotus pads set among flowers."

"一整排身穿暗淡褐紫紅袍的佛像，在美麗的蔚藍色襯托下，頭部頂著光環行走在花叢間的蓮葉上。"

There's little evidence of this today apart from a few scraps of colour and detail here and there, but there are isolated caves higher up the mountain, impossible to get to without a rope, where some of the best examples still survive.

然而現在在那裡，除了散佈在各處的極少部份和顏色之外，我們幾乎完全看不出來，但是在更高處的山壁上一定有其它隔絕且只能以繩索才能到得了的洞窟，在那裡一定倖存著絕佳的像那樣的作品。

A combination of the vibration from artillery shells, the Taleban chiselling away the depictions of faces and hands, and looting put paid to most of the paintings.

砲彈產生的震動、再加上塔利班鑿去了佛像的臉和手，還有偷盜等摧毀了大部份的畫。

But there are enough fragments left to give a hint of what it must have been like.

幸好留下的碎片足夠讓我們確定它原先的樣子。

The views from the caves looking out over the valley are stunning and there is another twist to the story of the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

從石窟朝河谷望去的景色真是美極了，而且關於巴米安佛像的故事還有一個意外的轉折。

A Buddhist pilgrim wrote around the time the paintings were finished in the mid seventh century of the amazing statues - but he described three.

一位佛教徒曾於七世紀中葉當這些繪畫已臻完工時前來朝聖，他寫下了這些驚人的佛像 - 但是他說的佛像卻有三座。

According to his account, the third reclining Buddha was a 1,000 feet long and lay on the valley floor.

根據他的描述，第三座是臥佛，全長1000呎，而且被平放在河床上。

It would be remarkable if it was buried beneath the river sediment and two teams of archaeologists, one from France another from Japan, are in a race to find it.

如果真被埋在河流的沉積物下，那會是多麼的驚人。因此兩組分別來自法國與日本的考古學家團隊都搶著要先找到它。

It sounds like an Indiana Jones film, but there have been many interesting archaeological discoveries in Bamiyan and this beautiful valley may not yet have revealed all its secrets.

雖然聽起來猶如印第安那瓊斯電影中的情節，但是巴米安已經有這麼多有趣的考古發現，而她美麗的河谷必定還存在著更多的秘密等待世人去發掘。

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7508917.stm

Published: 2008/07/17 09:38:53 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

The fabled city of Timbuktu

The fabled city of Timbuktu
By Hamilton Wende
BBC News, Mali


Timbuktu is a name that conjures up ideas of the unattainable or magical and, as Hamilton Wende discovers, it still remains relatively inaccessible even in today's world of quick and easy travel.

Timbuktu (廷巴克圖)這個名字，它會讓你腦中浮現一種不可能的或者充滿神秘的想法，Hamilton Wende發現，即使像時下的旅行是這麼的快捷與簡易，它依舊相對是那麼的難以到達。

Our journey began badly. Only a few hundred yards from our hotel in Bamako, the capital of Mali, I suddenly noticed that our driver Ibrahim looked curiously relaxed as we waited at an intersection.

我們這趟旅程一開始就不怎麼順利。離我們在馬利首都Bamako的旅館才不過幾百碼遠，我突然注意到我們的駕駛Ibrahim看起來格外懶散，當時我們正停在十字路口。

Then, horrified, I realised he was snoring loudly with his head drooped over the steering wheel.

接著，令我感到害怕的是，我看到他的頭在方向盤上垂了下來，而且正大聲的在打鼾。

He had been up all night partying, so I insisted on driving.

他徹夜狂歡，因此我堅持不讓他開車。

As our convoy headed north into the semi-desert, he slept like a baby in the passenger seat for four hours.

當護送我們的車隊緩緩駛進北方的半沙漠地帶時，他像個嬰兒一樣在乘客座上熟睡了四個鐘頭。

It was only when we stopped for lunch under an acacia tree that he finally awoke.

只有當我們停下來在阿拉伯橡膠樹下享用午餐時，他終於醒了。

In order to help him along, Moussa, another driver, pulled out a goatskin bag containing an ornate teapot that looked like something out of the Arabian Nights and a small gas burner.

我們另一位駕駛Moussa為了幫他，從一個山羊皮袋裡拖出一個像天方夜譚裡面裝飾華美的茶壺，和一個小瓦斯爐。

"Chai," he said to me with a cigarette clenched in his teeth, as he squatted in the hot sand to brew some mint tea.

他蹲在熾熱的沙地上煮著些薄荷茶，"茶，"他嘴裡咬著雪茄對我說。

"This could take a while," one of my travelling companions muttered.

"這又要一陣子了，"我的旅伴抱怨著。

"Traditionally, they have to drink three cups. The first is bitter like death, the second bitter-sweet like life and the third sweet like love."

"他們習慣要喝上三杯。第一杯苦澀得有如死亡，第二杯甘甘甜甜猶如人生，而第三杯則像愛情一樣甜蜜。"

Moussa and Ibrahim, however, limited themselves to a single cup and we got back onto the road.

Moussa和Ibrahim還是很克制的只喝了一杯之後，我們就再度上路了。

Changing colours

The heat shimmered off the white sand as we drove, while the empty sky was bleached almost white by the sun. And baobab trees stood stark against the horizon.

我們行駛間，氤氳的熱氣在白色的沙上閃動翻騰，而萬里無雲的天空在耀眼的陽光下呈現白茫茫一片。幾株猴麵包樹孤零零的站在地平線上。


The journey proved hard and exhausting, and we all wondered what lay ahead.

這趟旅程是那麼的艱難、讓人精疲力竭，我們都很想知道究竟還會發生什麼事。

The landscape and towering sky were at first drab but then started to change with the alchemy of light in Africa, layered with subtle tones of green, brown, yellow, blue, silver and white.

起先，一路上的景緻與高聳的天空都是單調的黃褐色，接著便開始隨非洲光源的神奇力量而起了變化，出現了微妙的綠色、棕色、黃色、藍色、銀色與白色色調的漸層。

That range of colours was interrupted suddenly by people in the villages who were wearing bright clothes of emerald, canary and azure.

突然間，村落裡穿著著翠綠色、淡黃色、蔚藍色鮮麗服裝的村人將這色系全部打亂。

Two Tuareg men in traditional turbans zoomed by on motorbikes.

兩名纏著傳統頭巾的圖瓦雷克男子騎在摩托車上疾駛而過。(圖瓦雷克族是一支主要分佈於非洲撒哈拉沙漠週邊地帶的遊牧民族)

The houses were almost all of mud, and the mosques with their green shuttered archways had minarets of mud and logs.

這裡的房舍幾乎全是用泥土蓋成的，就連他們綠色拱道遮蓋的清真寺的尖塔也是用泥土和木頭所搭建。

Colourfully painted donkey carts and buses piled impossibly high with luggage careened down the road in both directions.

由驢子拉的運貨車被漆成五顏六色，上頭行李堆的高得離譜的公車，在雙向道路上搖搖晃晃的行駛。

Hours passed. Ibrahim remained alert.

幾個小時過去了。Ibrahim依舊保持警戒。

Finally, as dusk fell, we came to the town of Mopti on the bend of the Niger river.

最後，當黃昏已至，我們來到位在尼日河彎延處的Mopti鎮。

Long pirogues were poled across the pink and silver currents of the river at sunset, frogs called loudly from the banks and huge bats swirled overhead in the last of the light.

用篙撐著的長長獨木舟橫越在河面上，落日將粼粼流動的河水染上一層粉紅色的銀光，河岸邊的青蛙大聲的鳴叫，巨大的蝙蝠在天空僅存的微光中盤旋著。

The heat was oppressive and we still had 250 miles to go the next day.

高溫令人難以忍受，而我們明天仍要趕250哩的路。

Ancient human landscape

We left shortly after dawn.

天剛破曉不久，我們隨即動身。

North of Mopti, the landscape grew harder and more bleak. There were hardly any villages now.

Mopti北方的景象越來越嚴峻且荒涼。現在那裡幾乎沒有任何的村落了。

But, as remote and forbidding as it is, this is an ancient human landscape, settled and travelled across for millennia.

但是，即使是這樣的偏遠與險惡，這片古老的人文景觀，幾千年來不斷的有人在上頭屯墾與行走。

For well over a thousand years, camel caravans have traversed the dry sands carrying salt, gold and slaves.

多少駱駝商隊在千年之間不斷地往返於這片乾燥的沙地上，載運著鹽、黃金，還有奴隸。

Finally, after another eight hours of driving, we came to the Niger river again. We crossed by ferry and drove the last few miles to our destination.

終於，再八個小時的車程後，我們又來到尼日河。我們搭乘渡輪橫渡後，再行駛最後的幾哩路終於來到我們的目的地。

"Welcome to Timbuktu. The city of 333 saints," read a battered sign along the road.

路旁斑駁的指示牌標註著"歡迎來到Timbuktu(廷巴克圖)。這座有著333位聖者的城市。"

Soon a low mud gateway appeared in the fading light. It was a disappointing entrance to the fabled city.

很快的，一道低矮的泥砌通道出現在昏暗的光線中。這道通往寓言中城市的入口真讓人失望。

A few yards on, goats browsed among piles of garbage. We passed through a few streets with houses of mud and cracked concrete.

羊隻在幾碼之外的垃圾堆中吃著草。我們越過幾條街，一旁的房子都是以泥土和水泥塊砌成。

There was little to see. The marketplace was filthy and rundown, the people brusque or insisting that we buy their overpriced souvenirs. The heat was near unbearable.

沒什麼值得看的。市場裡相當的骯髒與殘破，當地人唐突或堅持要我們買他們定價過高的紀念品。高溫簡直讓人難以忍受。

There was, it seemed, not much left of the mystic grandeur of Timbuktu.

看來，Timbuktu的神秘顯赫已所剩無幾。

We were exhausted and disappointed. Moussa and Ibrahim brewed more tea on the steps of our hotel.

我們不但精疲力竭而且還感到失望。Moussa和Ibrahim在我們旅館的臺階上煮了更多的茶。

Centre of learning

The next morning we saw the ancient Djingareyber mosque.

次日早晨，我們參觀了古老的Djingareyber清真寺。(提姆布克圖的三大清真寺，Djingareyber、Sankore、Sidi Yahia)

As non-Muslims, we could not enter but inside is an ancient door which, legend says, if it is ever opened, it will signal the end of the world.

由於我們都不是穆斯林，因此無法進入參觀，但是裡頭有扇古老的大門，傳說一旦開啟後世界末日隨即來臨。

A few crowded sandy lanes away is the ancient mud-walled Sankore mosque, the site of Africa's first university.

幾條滿是沙土擁擠的巷弄之外，是一座古老的、泥砌牆圍繞的清真寺Sankore，這裡同時也是非洲的第一所大學。

Timbuktu was once a centre of great learning and there are an estimated 700,000 manuscripts dating back to the 9th Century in its libraries.

Timbuktu曾是昔日的學術中心，它的圖書館裡估計約有七十萬份手稿，而且定年都是在九世紀以前。

Many have been damaged by water, sand and termites, but all of them offer a gateway to a past that has been almost forgotten.

雖然許多都已被水、沙塵與白蟻所毀壞，但這些全都提供了一個幾乎已被世人遺忘、通往過去的入口。

The thousands of leather-bound volumes are filled with beautiful calligraphy, ancient medical secrets and even maps of the stars.

上千捲以皮革裝訂的卷宗，裡面呈載了許多美麗的書法，古老醫術的奧秘，甚至還有星圖。

As we walked the streets of the town, I began to see something different about it, that its glory may be gone but its wealth still exists.

當我們信步在小鎮的街頭，我開始以不同的角度來看待她，那些昔日的榮景雖已不復存在，但它的財富卻是永存的。

What I had learned was that the road to Timbuktu is a journey not only into geography but also into the realm of memory and imagination.

我已經了解到通往Timbuktu的道路，不僅只是趟地理環境的旅程，同樣也是一趟進入過往記憶與想像力領域的旅程。

The old saying "from here to Timbuktu" might not mean what it used to, but I am glad that I have been there.

古老的諺語說"離開這裡，到廷巴克圖去"，指的也許是它的過往，但是我很高興我來過了。

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7488149.stm

Published: 2008/07/04 10:22:04 GMT

© BBC MMVIII
※"from here to Timbuktu"，是先知鼓勵穆斯林追求知識與真理，即使是再遙遠的地方，都應該懷著一顆崇敬的心，每天都渴望到那裡去追求人生的意義與真諦。
而西非諺語說：「鹽來自北方，黃金來自南方，阿拉的教導和智慧的寶藏來自廷巴克圖。」就能知道當時Timbuktu在學術文化上的地位是多麼的重要。