NEW YORK: A Brooklyn (New York) headquartered e-commerce company Etsy, Inc. withdrew toilet seat carrying image of Lord Ganesha from its website less than two hours after huge protest from concerned Indian Americans who deemed it “highly inappropriate”.
“Ganesha Toilet Seat”, earlier selling for $85 at Etsy.com, does not show up anymore. In its “Item details.” Lord Ganesha was described as “bathroom Ganesha” holding “a comb, mirror, toothbrush and toothpaste” and his Vahana rat was replaced by a “rat tail comb”.
The protest was spearheaded by Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism. He thanked Etsy for understanding the concerns of Hindu community which thought image of Lord Ganesha on such a product was highly insensitive. They are still waiting for a formal apology from Etsy and its CEO Josh Silverman to the upset Hindu community.
Lord Ganesha is highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to adorn a toilet. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees, Rajan said.
Hinduism is 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 had noted.
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesha 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.
Etsy, founded in 2005 in an apartment in Brooklyn and now headquartered in its Dumbo neighborhood with additional offices in France, Japan, Australia, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, San Francisco (California), Hudson (New York); describes itself as “a global creative commerce platform”.
It claims to have had annual gross merchandise sales of $2.84bn in 2016.
Neela Pandya
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