Amazon has quietly removed some 60 doormats for sale featuring Hindu deities, temples and saints following an outcry from Hindu leaders in the United States.
The images people would have been wiping their feet on included the Hindu deities Shiva, Vishnu, Keishna, Ganesha, Venkateswara, Saraswati, Murugan, Durga-Hanuman, and Padmanabha.
Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism in Nevada, thanked Amazon for acting quickly-just 24 hours after the group voiced its concerns. He also expressed hope an official apology from Amazon and its President Jeffrey Bezos would be issued.
This is the third time in recent years Amazon has used sacred Hindu symbols on its products. Each time it removed the items for sale after protests from Hindus. In 2014, Amazon removed women’s leggings carrying images of various Hindu deities and also that year, it removed pants carrying an image of Lord Ganesha.
Zed urged Amazon to train its senior executives in religious and cultural sensitivity.
Zed called it shocking that Amazon would find it appropriate to encourage people to scrub the soles of their shoes on the faces of gods worshiped by Hindus.
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