Upset Hindus are urging Gosford (New South Wales, Australia) based fightwear firm “Raven Fightwear” for immediate withdrawal of “Battle of the Gods – Hanoman v Ganesha” rashguards displaying images of Hindu deities Lord Ganesha and Lord Hanuman in a battle mode.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was trivialization of Lord Ganesha and Lord Hanuman, who were highly revered in Hinduism, as there was no scriptural evidence that any Hanuman versus Ganesha battle took place. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged Raven Fightwear and its CEO to offer a formal apology, besides withdrawing “Battle of the Gods – Hanoman v Ganesha” rashguards from its website and stockists.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken frivolously. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled, Rajan Zed noted.
Zed further said that such trivialization of Hindu deities was disturbing to the Hindus world over. Hindus were for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more. But faith was something sacred and attempts at trivializing it hurt the followers, Zed added.
“Battle of the Gods – Hanoman v Ganesha” men’s/women’s long sleeve rashguards were priced at $64.95 each on the website of Raven Fightwear, which specializes in Mixed Martial Arts apparel and claims to be “one of Australia’s fastest growing fight wear brands”. It has stockists in Australia, United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Singapore, Russia; and its products include shorts, rashguards, gloves t-shirts, hoodies. “Our designs centre around Norse mythology”, it states.
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesha is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking. Lord Hanuman is known for incredible strength and was a perfect grammarian.
Source: World Hindu News (WHN)