New Hampshire apparel firm urged to withdraw Lord Ganesh pet-bed

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Upset Hindus are urging the Keene, New Hampshire-based online apparel company “The Mountain” for immediate withdrawal of pet bed carrying image of Hindu deity Lord Ganesh; calling it highly inappropriate.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada, said that Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to place your pet on it or absorbing pet saliva. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the faithful.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged “The Mountain” and its CEO to offer a formal apology besides withdrawing “Ganesh Pet Bed”.

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 noted.

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. There are about three million Hindus in USA.

Product description of Ganesh Pet Bed, priced at $60 – $130, stated: “…we think your pets should sleep in style… The cover is water resistant, removable (there’s a zipper) and machine washable, so a little dog slobber or cat drool isn’t a problem”.

Products of “The Mountain”, whose history goes back to 1972, include apparel for men, women, juniors and kids. It claims to have “over 1000 designs available” and its Mission includes “to Mountainize the world one beautiful shirt at a time”.