CUTTING BOARD DRAWS ANGST FROM HINDUS
Wayfair used deity’s image
Online home furnishings retailer Wayfair Inc. yesterday said it would remove a cutting board for sale on its website after a U.S.-based Hindu advocacy group objected to the item’s image of the Hindu deity Lord Ganesha.
The Universal Society of Hinduism called on the Boston ecommerce company to stop selling the “highly inappropriate” East Urban Home-branded cutting board and formally apologize to Hindus.
The “trivialization” of the Hindu deity is disturbing, according to Rajan Zed, president of the Reno, Nev.-based society.
“Lord Ganesha was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to ‘chop, dice and slice’ meat, vegetables, cheese, etc.,” Zed said. “Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda (is) not OK, as it hurt the devotees.”
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesha is worshipped as the god of wisdom and remover of obstacles, and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking, according to Zed, who said there are approximately 3 million Hindus in the United States.
Wayfair was selling the “Birchwood Golden Ganesha Elephant Cutting Board” for $34.99 yesterday.
“We just became aware of the issue this afternoon and will of course remove it from (the) site as soon as possible,” Wayfair spokeswoman Susan Frechette wrote in an email to the Herald yesterday.
Zed acknowledged that he also received an email from Wayfair yesterday that thanked him for bringing the matter to its attention and said the company would remove the item from its site as soon as possible.
“But we are still awaiting for their apology,” Zed said. “They have not apologized yet.”
The society also was successful in getting Walmart to remove a plush Lord Ganesha doll from its e-commerce site in December.