Upset Hindus are urging Bristol (England) headquartered clothing brand Wild Thing for immediate withdrawal of its Kali Halloween Costume, calling it highly inappropriate.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that goddess Kali was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and was not an outfit to be paraded around or flaunted or parodied/mimicked or thrown around loosely at Halloween or fancy-dress parties for dramatic effects to entertain.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, emphasized that 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. He also urged Wild Thing and its CEO to offer a formal apology; besides withdrawing Kali Halloween Costume.
Clothing companies should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities. It was deeply trivializing of immensely venerated goddess Kali to be displayed like this, Rajan Zed stated.
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 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.
In Hinduism, Goddess Kali, who personifies Sakti or divine energy, is considered the goddess of time and change. Some Bengali poets described her as supreme deity.
Description of this objectionable Kali Costume, priced at £480, states: “Be the Queen of Halloween in this epic Kali Costume”. “Make Noise Through Fashion” is the tagline of Wild Thing, an online firm which describes itself as: “our marketplace is for you if you like edgy, stylish and on-trend clothing”. It claims to plant a tree for every order it receives and Katie Hobbs and Lauren Hobbs are its directors.
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How many times do we read these standard headlines starting with ‘upset Hindius’ whenever a consumer or fashion goods item manufacturer decides to denigrate our deities in this shameful manner. The reason? they know that we only complain and it will go away. What are the trading standards saying
Very unfortunate. Hindus are the easy targets as Hindus never believed in violence. May God restore the wisdom and understanding to keep the universe in peace and love for all.