Morphing of Hindu Gods

Posted by Harsh Nevatia May 25, 2007

On the cover of the recent issue of MOJO, the music magazine, is a morphed image of the Hindu God Krishna in his Great Manifestation. The innumerable heads of the deity have been replaced by the faces of musicians who feature in the issue. The Hindu community has taken affront and has started a petition against this issue on petitiononline.com. This action and reaction brings out varied issues that need statement. At the outset I firmly believe that there was no malefic intent involved.

The western world in general, and America in particular, is not as sensitive to its own culture as many Eastern countries are to theirs. A case in point is the use of The Stars and Stripes on any item imaginable including bikini tops and bottoms – something that does not fail to shock Indians, who revere their national flag and follow strict codes concerning its depiction and usage. How then can one expect these people to be sensitive to other cultures?

I do not believe that such portrayals insult the divine because I believe that the divine in any culture is by definition above insult. But beyond doubt such portrayals hurt the sensibilities of those who worship the divine. The fact that “their” God has been portrayed in such a crass manner has no doubt hurt the sentiments of Hindus, but I suspect it goes beyond that. Whenever such sacrilege is caused against what Muslims and Christians hold sacred there is a massive hue and cry and this is usually followed by conciliatory statements from the party causing offence. Such examples are numerous and do not need listing. Therefore the question that arises in the minds of Hindus is why should we bear this quietly? Why should we not raise our collective voice? Why should we not do what the followers of other religions do? I find it difficult to pass judgment on such people because they do have a point.

I have said time and again that religion is splitting our world apart and we need to be extra careful when dealing with religious issues. Though the editors of MOJO were not guilty of malefic intent, they were guilty of being insensitive. They exhibited a total lack of creativity and imagination. Surely they could have designed a cover that would meet their needs without causing anguish to Hindus.

Muslims and Christians are fairly organized worldwide. What such incidents are doing is pushing the Hindus into getting organized as well. Recently I read a news item about the Hindus in New Zealand getting organized under the first New Zealand Hindu conference in which the Prime Minister of New Zealand lauded the contribution of Hindus. I have been reading similar reports from various parts of the world over the last few years. Tomorrow the Hindus will ask for observer status in the United Nations. And who can say that they are unjustified when the Christians and Muslims have such a status. I just feel that we are headed in the wrong direction and EVERYONE needs to take a U-turn.