印度政府斥资千万探寻“起死回生”的神奇草药 Sanjivani

Medicinal Herb or Myth? Indian Official Proposes Hunt for Sanjivani of Lore

What in the WorldBy AYESHA VENKATARAMANSeptember 30, 2016

印度政府斥资千万探寻“起死回生”的神奇草药

世界真奇妙AYESHA VENKATARAMAN2016年9月30日

Could it really exist? A government minister in the Indian state of Uttarakhand wants to mount an expedition to find out.Sanjivani is the stuff of myth: an herb that glows in the dark and has the power to revive the dying, wrenching them back from the fog of unconsciousness. In the Ramayana, a sacred Hindu epic, the herb is used to resuscitate both the god-hero Rama and his younger brother Lakshmana.

桑吉万尼(Sanjivani)是神话故事里的东西：一种在夜晚会发光的草药，具有起死回生的能力，可以让人从毫无知觉的迷雾中苏醒。在神圣的印度教史诗《罗摩衍那》(Ramayana)中，这种草药曾被用来救活神的化身、英雄人物罗摩，以及他的弟弟罗什曼那(Lakshmana)。

这种东西真的存在吗？印度北安恰尔邦的一位部长想发起一次探索活动，查出其中的真相。

Surendra Singh Negi is the state’s minister for alternative medicine, and he says he is worried that continued forest fires in the Himalayas may be wiping out rare and valuable plant life. You can tell that the hills of Uttarakhand are abundant in medicinal plants, he says, from the fragrant smoke that the fires give off.

苏伦德拉·辛格·内吉(Surendra Singh Negi)是该邦负责替代医学事务的部长，他表示对喜马拉雅山脉持续的森林火灾怀有忧虑，担心它们会将有价值的珍稀植物悉数毁掉。他表示，从大火散发出的烟雾的香味可以判断，北安恰尔邦的山上药用植物非常丰富。

Medicinal herbs are central to the traditional practice of ayurvedic medicine in India. But little has been done to scientifically study and preserve the medicinal herbs of the Himalayas, Mr. Negi says. So he has proposed spending 250 million rupees ($3.75 million) of tax money to send a team of ayurvedic practitioners into the mountains.

草药是印度传统阿育吠陀疗法的核心。但内吉表示，在科学研究和保护喜马拉雅山脉的药材资源方面，工作做得太少。所以他提议拿出2.5亿卢比（约合2500万元人民币）的税收资金，派一支阿育吠陀医师队伍到山里去。

Mayaram Uniyal, the state’s ayurvedic adviser, says an herb that could be the real-life version of the legendary sanjivani has been seen growing on the slopes of Dunagiri, a mountain in northern Uttarakhand.

北安恰尔邦阿育吠陀顾问马亚拉姆·尤尼亚尔(Mayaram Uniyal)表示，在该邦北部的杜纳吉里山的山坡上，一直生长着一种植物，可能就是传说中的桑吉万尼的现实版本。

“It has a special fragrant smell, with unmatched sheen, and lights up in the night,” Mr. Uniyal said. “Both its flowers and milk are yellow. The herb is used extensively by the local shepherds when someone is unconscious, in pain or even under stress.”

“它有一种特殊的香味，有无与伦比的光泽，在夜晚会发亮，”尤尼亚尔说。“它的花瓣和汁液是黄色的。这种草药当地的牧羊人用得很多，在有人失去知觉、感觉疼痛，甚至压力大的时候，都会用到它。”

“We need to study its active ingredients with clinical trials, to come to know what exactly is in it that resuscitates an unconscious man,” Mr. Uniyal said. He added that while hopes for the plant are high, no one expects it to have one ability that the Ramayana ascribes to sanjivani: resurrecting the dead.

“我们需要通过临床试验对它的活性成分进行研究，以便知道到底是里面的什么成分让失去知觉的人重新苏醒，”尤尼亚尔说。他还表示，尽管大家对这种植物寄予厚望，但没人期待它能像《罗摩衍那》里描述的那么神奇：起死回生。

“These are imaginative stories, as you might say,” said Robert P. Goldman, a professor of Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkeley, and the principal translator of a critical edition of the Ramayana. “It’s interesting how these things can come into modernity as traditions that people follow.”

“你可能会说，这些都是想象出来的故事，”加州大学伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)梵文教授、英文评述版《罗摩衍那》的主要译者罗伯特·P·戈德曼(Robert P. Goldman)说。“有意思的是，作为人们遵循的传统，这些东西怎么融入现代生活。”

A similar search for sanjivani was proposed in Uttarakhand in 2009, but it did not receive financing. This time around, “it should happen,” Mr. Negi said.

在2009年，北安恰尔邦就有人提出寻找桑吉万尼的类似建议，但未获得资金。这一次，内吉说，“应该成行。”

“When you decide something,” he said, “the road comes to greet you and you achieve your goals.”

“决定做一件事后，”他说，“大路会敞开欢迎你，你就会实现自己的目标。”