2021. 1. 13. 19:10ㆍ카테고리 없음
Sle of Man headquartered company Playtech has reportedly withdrawn its recently launched Hindu goddess Lakshmi themed online slot game titled Lakshmi Gold, which upset Hindus. Hindu god Incarnation/Avatar of Vishnu Rule breaker and trickster Flirt Often pictured with a flute He was in love with Radha (Girlfriend) Associated with Holi (a way of making him equal to Radha by applying color to her and himself and demonstrating merriment, where people throw dyes at each other). In a remarkable interfaith gesture, Christian-Buddhist-Jewish leaders have come out to the support of Hindus who were upset at Germany developed Hindu god Shiva themed slot gambling game titled.
The one-man outrage industry is not new to controversy, or in creating controversies.
American e-commerce giant Amazon on Sunday faced a severe backlash after it was ‘discovered’ that the company sold a range of doormats with imprints of Hindu gods and goddesses on it. Triggering a massive outrage, ‘offended’ Hindus took to Twitter, trending #BoycottAmazon throughout the day, worldwide.
While Amazon was quick to withdraw these products from their inventory, this is not the first company to be put in the situation.
The face behind many such crusades in the past is one ‘very angry’ American Hindu, Rajan Zed - the eternal offence-taker and protester-in-chief. Based in Reno, the Indian -American has this perpetual habit of taking offence on behalf of world’s Hindus, especially when it comes to commercialized products.
Rajan Zed/Facebook
He is not only the President of Universal Society of Hinduism but also a noted leader in Interfaith Relations, along with being a Hindu ‘priest.’
He became popular in 2007, when he was invited to be a guest Chaplain to offer invocation prayers at the US Senate for delivering the Hindu prayer first time. And thus began his offence-taking saga.
Here is the list of things Zed has led the battle against in the past few years.
‘Hanuman’ Beer
Hindu God Of Destruction
In June 2014, within hours of launching a beer with Hanuman on its cover, Zed launched a protest calling identifying of the beer with Lord Hanuman as ‘highly inappropriate.’ Within hours of the launch, not only were the references to Hanuman removed, the Odd13 Brewing, Inc. in Colorado also removed the range of products.
Ganesha Duvet Covers
'Lord Ganesha was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines,' Zed said in a statement, 'and not to be slept upon,” with reference to Philadelphia-based firm Urban Outfitters duvet product. In his statement, he urged the company to withdraw the product as it ‘hurt’ the sentiments of Hindus.
Urban Outfitters/Pinterest
Converse Shoes
Converse shoes with images of Hindu deities were withdrawn from market in the United States after an outcry by the Indian community, led by Rajan Zed, of course. 'Our ambitions were to honour the music of Jimi Hendrix. It was not our intent to offend Hindu culture by having Hindu deities on footwear,' wrote the director of Converse.
Screenshot: Baggins Shoes TV/YouTube
Lakshmi Gold Gambling Slot
“The wild symbol in this game was Hindu deity Ganesh, which offered the jackpot payout of 10,000 coins. Other regular symbols in this game included the cow, which is sacred to Hindus. Lakshmi was the bonus symbol in this five reel 25 payline video slot and a hymn to Lakshmi was delivered during the free spins,” said a report with regard to Lakshmi Gambling Slot which eventually offended you-know-who. He immediately wrote to Playtech who reportedly removed the game from the market.
Image source:en.casinoz.me
Leggings with Hindu imprints
“But faith was… sacred and attempts at trivialising… Hindu gods and goddesses was disturbing to the Hindus world over,” wrote Rajan Zed to the very same Amazon on the company selling ‘objectionable’ leggings with the imprint of Hindu gods.
Selena Gomez's MTV performance
Rajan Zed once ‘benevolently' agreed to ‘guide’ Selena Gomez on her exploration of Hinduism. His reaction came in response Selena’s debut performance of 'Come & Get It” at MTV Awards ceremony in April this year, in which she is seen donning a bright red bindi, and plays a fire priestess.
“Bindi on forehead was an ancient tradition in Hinduism and had religious significance and was not meant to be thrown around loosely for seductive effects as fashion accessory aiming at mercantile greed,” said Zed in a statement, adding that Hindus all around the world were happy that she did not sport a bindi in the single that released on May 7.
Zed Rajan’s ‘outrage’ statements have a set template. He hardly ever changes the words, even. It starts off with how the product has offended Hindu sentiments, and goes on to say that Hindusim is meant to be worshipped in temples and home-shrines and not be displayed in products and eventually ends with how the religion is all for artistic freedom but not at the expense of faith. Every single time.
Using religion to gain popularity and single-handedly making it a phenomenon is something that can be learnt from Rajan Zed. Or maybe, not.
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sle of Man headquartered company Playtech has reportedly withdrawn its recently launched Hindu goddess Lakshmi themed online slot game titled Lakshmi Gold, which upset Hindus.
Pictures Of Hindu Gods
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who spearheaded the protest, calling identifying of slot gambling with Hindu deities as “highly inappropriate”, has thanked and commended the company for showing responsibility, respect and maturity by taking quick action and for having an understanding for the hurt feelings of worldwide Hindu community. It was a “step in the right direction” but a statement of apology by the company would still have been better, he added in a statement in Nevada (USA) today.
According to reports, wild symbol in this game was Hindu deity Ganesh, which offered the jackpot payout of 10,000 coins. Other regular symbols in this game included cow, which is sacred to Hindus. Lakshmi was the bonus symbol in this five reel 25 payline video slot and a hymn to Lakshmi was delivered during the free spins. Claimed to be suitable for high rollers, it reportedly went live for few days at some Playtech online casinos and reports suggest that it is not available anymore at those casinos.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, had stressed that Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh, who were highly revered in Hinduism, were meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for promoting gambling on an online slot for mercantile greed of an online gaming company.
Chief Hindu God
Rajan Zed had urged Playtech to immediately recall this slot game showing Hindu Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees, he had stated.
Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled, Zed noted.
Hindu Gambling Gods
Rajan Zed further said that Hindus were for free expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more, but faith was something sacred and attempts at trivializing it were disturbing for the devotees. Businesses should be respectful to various faith traditions, Zed added.
In Hinduism, Lakshmi is the goddess of good fortune and beauty and is also known as ‘world-mother’. Lord Ganesh is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking. Moksh (liberation) is the ultimate goal of Hinduism.
Founded in 1999, Playtech, whose tagline is “Source of Success”, claims to be “the world’s largest publicly-traded online gaming software supplier”. Besides Isle of Man headquarters, it has units in United Kingdom, Sweden, Estonia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Israel. Roger Withers is its Board Chairman while Mor Weizer is Chief Executive Officer. The Isle of Man is autonomous dependency of British Crown.