By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 28 Nov 2016 • 12:20
CRAFT beer brewers have long been trying to outdo one another with outlandish names, from Santa’s Swallie to Skull Splitter, but a Spanish brewery may have bitten off more than it could chew by upsetting the international Hindu community.
The Ibosim microbrewery in Ibiza has launched a bevy of Hindu-themed beers and provoked fury all the way across the Atlantic, near the Nevada desert where the Universal Society of Hinduism is based.
From ‘Shiva Session Black IPA’ to ‘Hanuman Coffee IPA’ and the promising ‘Ganesha Double IPA’, each product in the new range comes packaged with a portrait of the named deity.
Rajan Zed, a self-described Hindu statesman who is president of the Reno, Nevada-based Universal Society of Hinduism, has attacked the brewery for disrespecting the ancient faith by association it with alcohol and commercialism.
Though Hinduism incorporates a huge variety of philosophies and beliefs, Shiva, Hanuman and Ganesha are broadly revered by followers of the faith, who number over a billion across the world.
Mr Zed is a paid up member of the perpetually outraged brigade. In November alone he has also protested the depiction of Hindi deities on clothing from an American retailer, and on yoga mats from the huge Chinese online retailer Alibaba. He also recently criticised an American brewery for launching a similar Shiva-themed range.
Zed was predictably outraged over the 2008 Mike Myers film ‘The Love Guru’ about the adventures of Guru Pitka from ‘Harenmahkeester’, whose dream is to become the world’s No1 Guru and appear on the Oprah Winfrey show.
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