Hindus are urging Scottsdale-headquartered apparel company Yoganastix for immediate withdrawal of tights carrying image of Hindu deity Lord Ganesh; calling it "highly inappropriate."

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a recent statement in Nevada, said Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to adorn one’s legs. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities, concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees, Mr. Zed said in a release.

Mr. Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged Yoganastix to offer a formal apology, besides withdrawing its “Ganesh High Waist Tights” from website and store. It was priced at $78. As of March 24, the tights were still available on Yoganastix’s website.

Hinduism has been around 1,500 B.C. and the third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents.
The release states Hindus have a “rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken frivolously.” Mr. Zed said symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled.

He further said such trivialization of Hindu deities are disturbing to the Hindus. Hindus are for free a'rtistic expression and speech, Mr. Zed said, but faith is something sacred and attempts at trivializing it hurt the followers.

In Hinduism, Lord Ganesh is worshiped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles, being invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking.