Upset Hindus are urging Skurup (Sweden) based fashion-clothing firm Creative Minds Petrahs Art for immediate withdrawal of bikinis, leggings, shorts, skirts, socks, swimsuits and towels; carrying the images of Hindu deities Ganesh, Kali and Shiva; calling these highly inappropriate.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that Lord Ganesh, goddess Kali and Lord Shiva were highly revered in Hinduism and were meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for adorning legs, thighs, buttocks, crotch, feet, and wiping various body parts. 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 Creative Minds Petrahs Art and its CEO to offer a formal apology.
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.
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesh is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking. Goddess Kali, who personifies Shakti or divine energy, is considered the goddess of time and change. Lord Shiva, along with Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu, forms the great triad of Hindu deities.
Creative Minds Petrahs Art sells bags, beach towels, coffee mugs, dresses, hats, leggings, phone cases, pillow cases, posters, shirts, skirts, socks, swimwear, tops, etc.; and claims to be “Bringing quality, energetic, fun and creative clothing and fashion to the people in the entire world”.
Source: World Hindu News (WHN)