Lawsuit filed against India, West Bengal governments.
By Raif Karerat
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WASHINGTON, DC: A music video for the song “King” by Amitis, featuring Snoop Dogg, has members of the Parsi Zoroastrian community in Kolkata up in arms, calling the production “blasphemous” and disrespectful toward their faith.
The music video — which is Iranian-born Amitis’ first foray into Western hip-hop — is interspersed with scenes of hookah-smoking and scantily-clad women all while Snoop sits on a throne beneath the winged symbol of Zoroastrianism known as the Fravahar.
Darayas Jamshed Bapooji, president of the Parsi Zoroastrian Association of Kolkata, has filed a civil complaint in the Calcutta High Court against two companies associated with the video in an effort to have the video banned in India, reported The Times of India.
“The wrong use of religious and sacred symbols and iconography hurts, insults and outrages the religious sentiments and beliefs of Parsi Zoroastrians,” states the lawsuit. “The lyrics of the song have nothing to do with Zoroastrianism. The Faravahar should be revered and respected as the Christian cross, Allah, the Star of David and Om, the religious symbols of all religions. All over the world, people respect religious symbols. The Faravahar, a sacred symbol for the Parsi Zoroastrians, does not belong to this song,” it continues.
The Faravahar is comprised of a winged disk with three layers of feathers representing the three pillars of the Zoroastrian faith — good words, good thoughts, and good deeds. The ring represents eternity and has two streamers representing the duality of good and evil on the left and right respectively. The head of a man, facing left — representing Prophet Zoroaster — depicts the choice to live a morally upright life.
No one involved with the production of the video has commented on the litigation, according to Time magazine.
Along with the two companies associated with the video — which were not named by the Times of India — respondents also include the government of West Bengal and the government of India.