Upset Hindus are urging online retailer Amazon.com for the immediate withdrawal of men’s underwear, doormat and sweatpants carrying images of Hindu deity Lord Hanuman, besides a Hanuman cloth doll; calling these highly inappropriate.
Hanuman men’s underwear, made from satin cloth, sells for $49.62 at Amazon.com.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that Lord Hanuman was greatly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to wear on your hip/crotch or legs or put your feet on or touch with your feet or to be randomly thrown around (in case of a cloth doll). Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the faithful.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged Amazon.com President Jeffrey P. Bezos to offer a formal apology, besides withdrawing these products, as this was not the first time for the company to offer such products which were deemed offensive by Hindu devotees.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one 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 indicated.
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.
Amazon.com, Inc., a Fortune 500 company founded in 1994, and headquartered in Seattle (USA), claims to offer earth’s biggest selection.