Alcohol brewer slammed by Hindus for use of deities on ginger beer label
Australia's Indian community has slammed a NSW brewer for using Hindu deities on an alcoholic drink label.
The Indian Australian Association of NSW has called for an apology from Brookvale Union, based on Sydney's northern beaches, for using the Hindu god Ganesha and goddess Lakshmi.
The label on the brewer's ginger beer bottles features a figure with Ganesha's distinctive elephant head superimposed on the body of Lakshmi.
A cauldron of fire spits from Ganesha's head and the figure holds a cow's head on a stick in one hand.
Brookvale Union's ginger beer.
The figure was also featured on the company's website, moving from side to side on the computer screen. Hovering your mouse over the image changed Ganesha's head to that of Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
On Tuesday afternoon, the figure no longer appeared on the website, and Brookvale Union confirmed it had been removed.
INDAUS president Dr Yadu Singh called for the company to remove the offending labels and apologise to Hinduism practitioners.
"This is offensive, unacceptable and objectionable. Lord Ganesha is one of the most important deities of Hinduism and is worshipped for wisdom," he said.
"Brookvale Union Brewery ... is wrong to place deities of Hinduism in the label of its ginger beer bottle. We condemn the behaviour of Brookvale Union Brewery in the strongest possible words."
Hinduism is the majority religion in India, with about 80 per cent of the country's population identifying as Hindu. There are more than 900 million followers around the world.
Adrianna Navarro and Annika Blauenjoying a Brookvale Union ginger beer in Manly.
About 300,000 Australians are adherents, equating to 1.3 per cent of the populace.
The label even raised the ire of Rajan Zed, the US-based president of the Universal Society of Hinduism who said the use of the deities was inappropriate.
"They are meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used for selling beer for mercantile greed," said a statement on Mr Zed's website.
"Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled."
Brookvale Union suggested it may change the label following the objections.
"It was not meant to cause any offence," a spokesperson said.
"With the recent feedback brought to our attention, we will be looking at design options for our bottles and packaging."
Packaging for Brookvale Union’s ginger beer.
Source: The Herald Sun, 13 November 2013
