Upset Hindus are urging Temecula (California) headquartered firm Liquid Dreams for immediate withdrawal of Ganesha Leggings, Ganesha Yoga Shorts and Kali Booty Shorts carrying images of Hindu deities Lord Ganesha and goddess Kali; calling these highly inappropriate.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that Lord Ganesha and goddess Kali were highly revered in Hinduism and were meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to adorn one’s legs, thighs, groin, genitals and pelvis. Inappropriate usage of sacred Hindu deities or concepts or symbols or icons for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged Liquid Dreams and its CEO to offer a formal apology; besides withdrawing Ganesha Leggings, Ganesha Yoga Shorts and Kali Booty Shorts.
Clothing companies should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities. It was deeply trivializing of immensely venerated Lord Ganesha and goddess Kali to be displayed on leggings and shorts, Rajan Zed emphasized.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.2 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; Zed noted.
Rajan 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 Ganesha is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking. Goddess Kali, who personifies Sakti or divine energy, is considered the goddess of time and change. Some Bengali poets described her as supreme deity.
Liquid Dreams is a “lifestyle brand” which sells men’s and women’s apparel and accessories. It states to be creating “Functional Art For A Dysfunctional World”, claims “thoughtfully designed” products and adds that “Liquid Dreams is all about making the world a better place”.