(Samajweekly) Upset Hindus are urging Brovary (Ukraine) based Reformation Brewery to apologize and withdraw its beer “Kali F*ckin IPA” named after Hindu goddess, calling it highly inappropriate.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that inappropriate usage of sacred Hindu symbols or deities or concepts or icons for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, indicated that goddess Kali was highly revered in Hinduism and she was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in a re-imagined version for pushing beer. Moreover, associating words like “F*ckin” with a deity and linking it with an alcoholic beverage was very insensitive, Zed added.
Breweries should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities. It was deeply trivializing of divine Hindu deity to be placed in such a manner, Rajan Zed emphasized.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken frivolously. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled, Zed noted.
Goddess Kali, who personifies Sakti or divine energy, is widely worshipped in Hinduism. She is considered the goddess of time and change. Some Bengali poets described her as supreme deity.
“Kali F*ckin IPA” (ABV 6.4, OG 15%, IBU 60) was described as: “an American-style IPA with a bright aroma of tropical fruits, grapefruit and lime. It will satisfy the most demanding hopheads and will not leave anyone indifferent”.
Reformation Brewery in Brovary, eastern suburb of Ukraine’s capital Kiev, whose tagline is “Drink. Think. Enjoy.”, was started in 2014.
