Teeki pants were selling the garment for upwards of $66.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: In response to vocal protests from the Hindu community in America, online retailer Amazon has removed a controversial pair of pants that prominently feature the Hindu God Ganesha from their catalogue.
The pants are manufactured by California-based clothing company Teeki, which specializes in active-wear and yoga clothing. The “Ganesha’s Hot Dream Pant” sell for somewhere between $66 and $79 in the US, and are available from several retailers – including omnipresent chains like Sears– which have also been called on to stop selling the item.
Arguably the most recognizable and certainly among the most highly revered figures in Hinduism, Ganesha is considered to be the God of wisdom by adherents of the faith, which has the third-largest following in the world behind Christianity and Islam. He is also known as the remover of obstacles, and is invoked at the beginning of nearly all Hindu religious rituals.
Teeki is not the first clothing company or retailer to get into trouble by featuring a Hindu God on its merchandise, however. Clothing franchise Urban Outfitters found itself in hot water last year when it put Ganesha on a sock, as well as other religious figures like Jesus Christ. After receiving numerous complaints, the company issued an apology and pulled the socks off shelves. Because the feet are considered highly impure in Hindu theology, making a sock with a God on it is one of the worst kinds of clothing offenses possible.
Such controversies are not exclusive to the clothing industry – last year, the Asheville Brewing company stirred up trouble by featuring the Hindu God Shiva on the label of one of its beer products. The small craft beer company was immediately inundated with emails and calls from the Hindu community, urging that the sacred icon not be used in association with an alcoholic beverage. While Asheville Brewery admitted their mistake, they also said that they wouldn’t change the label.
An Australian beer company did something similar as well, putting the Goddess Lakshmi on one of its labels, but swiftly pulled the image and issued an apology when it was told that the image offended Hindu patrons.