Upset Hindus have urged Brazil based Cervejaria Colorado to apologize and withdraw its India Pale Ale beer carrying the name of Lord Vishnu, calling it highly inappropriate.
This beer, named as Vishnu, is described on the company website as: “Vishnu, in addition to being named One of the principal Hindu deities, is also the name of this delicious recipe variation India Pale Ale…A pleasant lingering bitterness, ideal for those who like extreme beers.”
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA), said that inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, stressed that Lord Vishnu was highly revered in Hinduism and he was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in selling beer for mercantile greed. Moreover, linking Lord Vishnu with an alcoholic beverage was very disrespectful, Zed added.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled, Rajan Zed noted.
Lord Vishnu is “preserver” in the Hindu triad with Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva as the aspect of the Supreme. He has ten incarnations to establish dharma (divine law). Moksh (liberation) is the ultimate goal of Hinduism.
Award-winning Cervejaria Colorado, based in Ribeirao Preto in Sao Paulo state of Brazil, was founded in 1996. It claims its products as “increasingly universal”, which besides Brazil, are also exported to France and United States of America. Marcelo Carneiro da Rocha is the Chairman.
Vishnu beer, which won gold medal at Brazilian Beer Festival 2014, has an alcohol content of 9.5%.