MADHU PATEL
CHICAGO: A large group of Indians in the US and globally have asked Saint Petersburg, Russia-based Mookhomor Production microbrewery not to use Hindu deity Lord Ganesh’s image on its White Illusion IPA beer, calling it highly inappropriate.
Rajan Zed, leading this protest, 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, the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, observed that Lord Ganesh is highly revered in Hinduism and he is meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in selling beer. It was deeply trivializing of the immensely venerated Hindu deity to be portrayed on a beer label, he added.
Hinduism, the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents, has a rich philosophical thought. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled. 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.
The slogan of Mookhomor Production microbrewery, with a capacity of 25,000 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 and Milky Dreams and its products are available in various outlets in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Moscow, and other regions of Russia.
