Upset Hindus are urging world’s largest online retailer Amazon.com for the immediate withdrawal of toilet cover set carrying the image of Hindu deity Lord Shiva; calling it highly inappropriate.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that Lord Shiva was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to adorn a toilet cover or put your feet on. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or symbols 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 and its President Jeffrey P. Bezos to offer a formal apology, besides withdrawing the Lord Shiva toilet cover set, 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 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 indicated.
Zed further said that such trivialization of Lord Shiva 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 Shiva, along with Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu, forms the great triad of Hindu deities. There are about three million Hindus in USA.
This objectionable three-piece black-white Toilet Cover set with “Lord with Third Eye on Forehead Snake on His Neck” was priced at $46. Soft and elegant bath rug “feels great on your feet”, product description stated.
Amazon.com, Inc., a Fortune 500 company founded in 1994, and headquartered in Seattle, claims to offer earth’s biggest selection.
