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BRASILIA (Reuters) – An Indian religious leader called on a Brazilian fashion clothing brand to remove the image of the Hindu deity Lord Ganesh from one of its lines of shorts for men and women.
Hindu cleric Rajan Zed demanded that clothing manufacturer Jon Cotre offer an apology for “deeply trivializing” one of the most revered gods in Hinduism, the world’s third-largest religion with an estimated 1.2 billion followers.
“Lord Ganesh was meant to be worshiped in temples or domestic shrines and not to adorn the thighs, hips, groin, buttocks, genitals and pelvis,” said Zed, who lives in the US state of Nevada, in a release.
The Sao Paulo-based company could not be reached on Friday due to a state holiday.
Lord Ganesh is one of the best known and most adored deities of the Hindu pantheon, easily identifiable by his elephant head.
Zed said that the inappropriate use of Hindu deities, symbols or icons for commercial purposes harms devotees.
“Apparel companies shouldn’t be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridicule of entire communities,” Zed said.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Tom Brown)
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