Hindus’ protest against Sony’s Hanuman video game spreads

PRLog (Press Release) - Apr 20, 2009 -
More Hindus have joined the protest movement against Sony Corporation’s newly released “Hanuman: Boy Warrior” video game for PlayStation2.

Spearheaded by acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who said that “it trivializes the highly revered deity of Hinduism”, the protest has now even extended to Australia, where Vamsi Krishna of Sanatan Sanstha found it “very disrespectful, disgraceful and an insult to all those devotees of Lord Hanuman and followers of Hindu dharma.”

Vamsi Krishna requested Sony to “remove this video game with immediate effect from the market before this causes further unrest in the Hindu community worldwide and issue an apology to all those who have been hurt by this insensitiveness.”

Meanwhile, Bhavna Shinde of Forum for Hindu Awakening argued that “using a sacred figure from Hinduism, namely, the Hindus' revered Deity, Sree Hanuman, as a character in a video game is highly objectionable to us Hindus worldwide.”

Shinde further said that “as an ethical corporation, Sony is expected to treat with respect the objects and concepts held sacred by the one-billion-strong Hindu community.” She urged Sony “to withdraw this video game, "Hanuman: Boy Warrior" at the earliest, and publish an apology to the Hindu community and Hanuman devotees worldwide.” She requested all distributors and sellers of video games to exclude "Hanuman: Boy Warrior".

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, has earlier said that reimagining Hindu scriptures and deities for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.

Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and moksha (liberation) as its ultimate goal. Sony, founded in 1946, one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world with consolidated annual sales of about $89 billion, is headquartered in Tokyo (Japan) with Howard Stringer as the Chairman.