Upset Hindus are urging Saint Petersburg (Russia) area based Mookhomor Production microbrewery to apologize and not use Hindu deity Lord Ganesh’s image on its White Illusion IPA beer, calling it highly inappropriate.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, indicated that Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and he was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in selling beer. Moreover, linking a deity with an alcoholic beverage was very disrespectful, Zed added.
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.
It was deeply trivializing of immensely venerated Hindu deity Lord Ganesh to be portrayed on a beer label, 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.
Label on year-round White Illusion India Pale Ale (IBU 50, OG 16, ABV 7; Hops—Columbus, Cascade, Citra, Chinook) bottle displays Lord Ganesh with sitar.
Slogan of Mookhomor Production microbrewery, with a capacity of 25000 liters and
founded in 2016, is “Craft your mind”; and it features “classic beer styles and experimental brews with fruits, berries and spices”. Its other beers include “Kissin and Twistin”, “Milky Dreams”, etc.; and its products are available in various outlets in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Moscow, and other regions of Russia.