Upset Hindus are urging Miami (Florida) headquartered firm Martha Acuna Sport Wear for immediate withdrawal of Ganesh Lavanda Leggings, carrying images of Hindu deity Lord Ganesh; calling it highly inappropriate.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to adorn one’s legs, thighs, calves and knees; or for wicking human sweat. 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 Martha Acuna Sport Wear and its CEO Martha Acuna (who also happens to be a Mexican actress) to offer a formal apology; besides withdrawing Ganesh Lavanda Leggings.
Clothing companies should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities. It was deeply trivializing of immensely venerated Lord Ganesh to be displayed on leggings, 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 deity 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.
Martha Acuna Sport Wear is claimed to be “Inspired by Feminine Energy” and states that “Our challenge is to continue to reinvent ourselves every day” and “All our fabrics are sublimated”. Description of “Ganesh Lavanda Leggings”, priced at $82, included “built-in shapeware to provide an instant butt lift with ruched detailing at mid-rise waist”.