印度人如何为孩子祈福 把他们从房顶抛下

How far would you go to show your religious faith? Some families in rural India — both Hindus and Muslims — are willing to let their babies be tossed off the roof of a shrine, to be caught in a stretched bedsheet about 30 feet below.

为了展现对宗教信仰的虔诚，你会走多远？印度乡间的一些家庭——不论是印度教徒还是穆斯林——都乐于让他们的婴儿被人从一座神庙的屋顶抛下，再用一张摊开的床单在下方约30英尺（约合9.1米）处接住。

The ritual, long popular in Maharashtra and Karnataka States, dates back almost 700 years, to a time when infant mortality was high, medical knowledge was scant and families had few places to turn for help.

这种仪式在马哈拉施特拉邦和卡纳塔克邦流行已久，可以追溯到大约700年前。那时，婴儿的死亡率很高，医疗知识匮乏，人们求助无门。

Legend has it that a saint advised people whose babies were dying to build a shrine and drop the ailing infants from the roof to show their trust in the almighty. When they did so, the story goes, the babies were miraculously cradled to safety in a hammock-like sheet that appeared in midair.

相传有一位圣人建议家有濒死婴儿的人建一座神庙，再把病婴从屋顶抛下，用以展示他们对万能之神的信仰。据说当他们这样做的时候，半空中出现了一张吊床状的床单，奇迹般地把婴儿安全接住。

From then on, prayers for the birth of a healthy baby in the region have included a promise to toss the baby as an offering to the god who granted the prayers. Villagers believe that the ritual brings the child long life and good luck, and maintain that it does no harm.

从那时起，当地祈求生下健康宝宝的人便发愿，如果他们梦想成真，就把宝宝从屋顶抛下，作为对神的供奉。村民们认为这种仪式会给孩子带来长寿和好运，并且坚信它没有任何危害。

The practice came under fire in 2009, when a widely circulated video recorded at the Baba Umer Dargah, a shrine in Solapur, Maharashtra, prompted the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to intervene. The commission investigated and ordered that the baby-tossing be stopped.

这种做法在2009年遭到了抨击。当时，在马哈拉施特拉邦肖拉普尔一座名为巴巴乌默尔达加(Baba Umer Dargah)的神庙录制的一段视频广为流传，招致印度国家儿童权益保护委员会(National Commission for Protection of Child Rights)的介入。该委员会展开了调查，并勒令不得再举办抛婴仪式。

“We do not support this superstitious practice,” said G. Mohanty, a media adviser at the commission. “It is against the interest of the children. They may be really scared, and nobody knows how it affects their psyche.”

“我们不支持这种迷信的做法，”该委员会媒体发言人G•莫汉蒂(G. Mohanty)说。“它危害了相关儿童的利益。他们可能非常害怕，而且没人知道他们的心理会受到怎样的影响。”

Officials say the practice is illegal under India’s children’s rights law, and the local police authorities in Solapur say they have not received any reports of baby-tossing since 2010. Even so, witnesses say it continues on a small scale in some villages, including in Mangasuli, where the Lord Khandoba, an avatar of Shiva, is worshiped by Hindus as the deity of the family.

官员们说，根据印度的儿童权益法，这种做法是非法的；肖拉普尔当地警方表示，自从2010年起，他们就没再接到过关于抛婴的警情。尽管如此，仍有目击者称，一些村落里依然少量存在这种现象，其中包括曼阿苏里村，在那里，印度教徒把湿婆(Shiva)的化身勘都巴神(Lord Khandoba)当成家庭守护神来供奉。

“The practice continues throughout the year, and babies are tossed within two months of being born, come rain or shine — it’s tradition,” said Javed Fardin Akhtar, a resident of the nearby city of Sangli who said he witnessed the ritual in Mangasuli in April.

“这种仪式一年到头都在举行，婴儿出生不超过两个月便会被抛下屋顶，风雨无阻——这是一种传统，”曼阿苏里村附近城市桑格利的居民贾韦德•法尔汉•阿赫塔尔(Javed Fardin Akhtar)说。今年4月，他在曼阿苏里村亲眼目睹了抛婴仪式。

Mr. Akhtar said that the actual tossing was done not by the parents, but by experienced devotees of the shrine. After one bounce on the bedsheet, the babies are swiftly returned to the arms of parents waiting anxiously in the cheering crowd below.

阿赫塔尔说，把婴儿抛下屋顶的实际上并不是婴儿的双亲，而是神庙里经验丰富的虔诚信徒。落在床单上的婴儿被弹起来以后，会在人们的欢呼声中被迅速送回焦急等待的父母的怀抱。