Madhu Patel
CHICAGO: Ski (Norway) based Holmentoppen Bryggerhus withdrew the Ganesh beer label that displayed the reimagined image of Lord Ganesh, after a strong protest dubbing it “highly disturbing”.
Kurt Haugen, Owner of Holmentoppen Bryggerhus, in an email to Rajan Zed, President of the Universal Society of Hinduism who spearheaded the protest, wrote: ‘Your concerns came to our knowledge yesterday, and we immediately withdrew the kit in question. We would like to bring forward our most sincere apologies. The use of this (public domain) illustration was a result of total ignorance and lack of knowledge on our part.’
Thanks were proffered to Holmentoppen Bryggerhus and Haugen for understanding the concerns of the community. Rajan Zed said that any inappropriate usage of sacred deities or concepts or symbols or icons for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.2 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.
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesh is worshipped as God of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking.
Awards-winning Holmentoppen Bryggerhus, launched in 2013, sells beer sets; which include malt, hops and a description of the process. One can choose to add yeast and labels (claimed to fit all current bottles and cans) to the set or whether one wants the firm to crush the malt. Other beer sets sold by the firm include “Triple Demons”, “Helles Angels”, etc.
