Rihanna’s topless Hindu god photo sparks outrage in India

[MenInG]

Pop icon Rihanna has been accused of mocking a Hindu god after she was pictured topless with a pendant of Ganesha around her neck.

Images of the lingerie photoshoot, that sparked a furore in India, came just weeks after Rihanna upset the Indian government by commenting on the huge farmers’ protests.

The latest tweet to the superstar’s more than 100 million Twitter followers is part of promotions for Rihanna’s lingerie line Savage X Fenty.

The photo was also shared on her Instagram account, which has 91.4 million followers.

Social media users and politicians in India said her post was “derogatory”, accusing her of disrespecting Hindu gods and hurting local sentiment.

“It’s appalling to see how @Rihanna shamefully mocks our beloved Hindu God #Ganesha,” tweeted Ram Kadam, a state legislator from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party. “This exposes how #Rihanna has no idea or respect for Indian culture, tradition and our issues here.”

The right-wing World Hindu Council said it had filed police complaints against Facebook and Twitter for hosting the picture and demanded action against Rihanna’s social media accounts.

Several followers on Rihanna’s social media accounts questioned her fashion statement.

“You’re wearing a deity necklace and a Murthi [image of a deity] of my culture that’s already been culturally appropriated enough in the past few years,” said one follower.

“How is this okay when a person has more than enough resources to at least find out the meaning and significance of the chains and pendant around their neck?”

Ganesha is highly revered in Hinduism, and is meant to be worshipped in temples or at home shrines.

Some Hindus wear Ganesha pendants as a symbol of their faith, but they do not adorn them as fashion accessories.

Earlier this month, tweets from Rihanna and other celebrities on protests in India by farmers against new agriculture laws sparked anger at India’s foreign ministry, which called their comments “sensationalist”.

Critics say Hindu nationalism has been on the rise in officially secular India under Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/...ess-hindu-god-photo?__twitter_impression=true

 

[Stewie]

Rihanna has posed topless with pretty much anything and everything under the sun at this point. She is a serial nudist attention seeker.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

I think it was done in good faith, you can find many images of Kali the goddess in a similar pose and she is also topless. The picture may have been posted as a tribute to hinduism.

 

[King-Misbah]

Rihanna shouldn't have done that because Hindus may feel offended.

 

[JaDed]

Rihanna shouldn't have done that because Hindus may feel offended.

Nothing to feel offended here.. she is not being disrespectful.. everyone knows the reason for outrage is her farm protest tweet.

 

[JaDed]

She got what she wanted- attention, right wing trolls got what they wanted.

Pretty win-win situation for everyone.

 

[Romali_rotti]

Rhianna will be fine, it is not like anyone will cut her head or other body parts off as retaliation. Protesting is fine and thats how it should be, no violence...

 

[DeadlyVenom]

I don't really think she cares about attention from India tbh. It's not something that can be monetised. Just shows a complete lack of awareness about other cultures/beliefs, but more can you expect from people who think posing nude is progressive.

 

[Stewie]

They should thank Rihana because I’m sure she was considering putting the pendant elsewhere. She is pretty freaky and loves to stir trouble and shock people!

 

[Giannis]

Rihanna also dated a Muslim billionaire, she's our manchurian candidate

 

[Bi_Jamalo]

I went to India in 2012 and happened to visit a few Mandirs. It was shocking to see what kind of strange statues and shapes were carved in there. Female body parts, that Rihana has put on display was amongst it. So was the statue of the male organ, on which they were throwing milk or something (to seek fertility or something like that).

I couldn’t help but think that how can normal people go there with families and kids. I don’t mean to disrespect Hindu religion but it really was a shocking thing to observe.

 

[Stewie]

I went to India in 2012 and happened to visit a few Mandirs. It was shocking to see what kind of strange statues and shapes were carved in there. Female body parts, that Rihana has put on display was amongst it. So was the statue of the male organ, on which they were throwing milk or something (to seek fertility or something like that).

I couldn’t help but think that how can normal people go there with families and kids. I don’t mean to disrespect Hindu religion but it really was a shocking thing to observe.

Well it’s an ancient religion and human sensitivities change over time. A lot of non Muslims will tell you they find it extremely strange Islam allows us polygamy.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Rihana needs to show respect to other peoples religions. How would she feel if people mocked African culture. So the same way racism is bad, so is religious mockery.

 

[Stewie]

Rihana needs to show respect to other peoples religions. How would she feel if people mocked African culture. So the same way racism is bad, so is religious mockery.

I think the whole thing is stupidly overblown. I would wear two leaves in the front and two in the back and I’m sure Africans won’t mind. Anybody could wear shalwar qameez, it won’t bother me. A Japanese girl could wear a saari, a Brazilian guy can wear a Scottish kilt, whatever! None of that should bother anyone. If a celebrity does something like this, somehow it absolutely has to hurt the cultural sensitivities of the people. come on! . it’s pretty pathetic. Grow up! We make mountains out of molehills!

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

I think the whole thing is stupidly overblown. I would wear two leaves in the front and two in the back and I’m sure Africans won’t mind. Anybody could wear shalwar qameez, it won’t bother me. A Japanese girl could wear a saari, a Brazilian guy can wear a Scottish kilt, whatever! None of that should bother anyone. If a celebrity does something like this, somehow it absolutely has to hurt the cultural sensitivities of the people. come on! . it’s pretty pathetic. Grow up! We make mountains out of molehills!

Wearing a Ganesh necklace while topless is very different than wearing it with clothes on.

Let me give an example . When i was a kid i used to eat real fast and my nani would often say stop being a bandar as a joke.

Imagine using that word against a African. In any context. It would be very offensive. Would seem racist. So the same way that is not ok, neither is making a mockery of someone's god.

 

[Stewie]

Wearing a Ganesh necklace while topless is very different than wearing it with clothes on.

Let me give an example . When i was a kid i used to eat real fast and my nani would often say stop being a bandar as a joke.

Imagine using that word against a African. In any context. It would be very offensive. Would seem racist. So the same way that is not ok, neither is making a mockery of someone's god.

You are comparing apples and oranges. She is not making mockery of anything here. She is wearing a necklace she likes. Maybe even admires.
And calling someone a bandar is not offensive unless you intend it to be offensive. It’s all a matter of context. Our world is getting too hung up over political correctness and being overly sensitive.

 

[Giannis]

Rihana needs to show respect to other peoples religions. How would she feel if people mocked African culture. So the same way racism is bad, so is religious mockery.

She's not African, she's from Barbados I don't think she would care. The only comparable thing would be if someone mocked Christianity but I don't think she's religious like most of the entertainment industry, she recently got into some controversy for playing at a nasheed at one of her savage x fenty shows - I'll let you google what that is .

 

[street cricketer]

Remember her trending on twitter worldwide a few months backs with muslims slating her for using some islamic verses in her fashion show as background music. Now posing for a topless photo with a hindu deity necklace.

She really doesn't seem to give an eff about third world problems - religious outrage!

 

[CricketCartoons]

Pains me to see the girls name capitalized, but God is in lower case in the title. But I must remain silent, lest these people find another reason to mock my faith.

 

[Stewie]

Pains me to see the girls name capitalized, but God is in lower case in the title. But I must remain silent, lest these people find another reason to mock my faith.

It’s grammatically correct. While referring to deities of polytheistic nature the letter g is not capitalized since it’s a common noun. While referring to monotheistic “God”, it is done so because it is a proper noun. It is elementary English.

 

[CricketCartoons]

It’s grammatically correct. While referring to deities of polytheistic nature the letter g is not capitalized since it’s a common noun. While referring to monotheistic “God”, it is done so because it is a proper noun. It is elementary English.

yes, our existence itself is incorrect. We should correct it. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Giannis]

Why will I play the oppressed hindu card when it only brings me more ridicule and reminder that my Lord Ganesha is not proper noun. I should have stuck to my own advice and suffered silently.

Bro this isn't some screentest for some bollywood movie

 

[BreadPakoda]

Deeply offensive in my opinion.

 

[Stewie]

Why will I play the oppressed hindu card when it only brings me more ridicule and reminder that my Lord Ganesha is not proper noun. I should have stuck to my own advice and suffered silently.

Ganesha is a proper noun. But Hindu “god” is not.
Just like the Norse god of thunder is Thor. Thor is proper but in the sentence god is still common noun.
When you refer to monotheistic God, it’s capital G because God or Allah is his name. If it makes you feel any better, I believe Bhagwan would be a proper noun as well if used in the context of an Almighty God, which Hindus do quite often, although I am not sure. Contrary to popular belief I am actually not an English teacher.

 

[BreadPakoda]

Remember her trending on twitter worldwide a few months backs with muslims slating her for using some islamic verses in her fashion show as background music. Now posing for a topless photo with a hindu deity necklace.

She really doesn't seem to give an eff about third world problems - religious outrage!

Yes, she later apologized.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

You are comparing apples and oranges. She is not making mockery of anything here. She is wearing a necklace she likes. Maybe even admires.
And calling someone a bandar is not offensive unless you intend it to be offensive. It’s all a matter of context. Our world is getting too hung up over political correctness and being overly sensitive.

Well if you make one group's sensitive point taboo, then others will expect the same. If race is taboo in some parts of the world, then religion is viewed as the same in others. Imagine if she did the same pose wearing a ayatul kursi necklace.

She's not African, she's from Barbados I don't think she would care. The only comparable thing would be if someone mocked Christianity but I don't think she's religious like most of the entertainment industry, she recently got into some controversy for playing at a nasheed at one of her savage x fenty shows - I'll let you google what that is .

She raises issues of racism facing the black community. Which is great. But she should understand the same way she would be offended, if someone did blackface, or made racist remarks, people can get offended by her using religious symbols in vulgar ways.

 

[Stewie]

Well if you make one group's sensitive point taboo, then others will expect the same. If race is taboo in some parts of the world, then religion is viewed as the same in others. Imagine if she did the same pose wearing a ayatul kursi necklace.



She raises issues of racism facing the black community. Which is great. But she should understand the same way she would be offended, if someone did blackface, or made racist remarks, people can get offended by her using religious symbols in vulgar ways.

Our religion has faced much worse insults for which nobody apologized. At least she is promoting it in some way, if she did that. It’s only offensive if you take it as offensive compared to say truly derogatory cartoons and Quran burnings that have happened in some places. Now those we should rightly feel upset over. This not so much!

 

[Itachi]

Our religion has faced much worse insults for which nobody apologized. At least she is promoting it in some way, if she did that. It’s only offensive if you take it as offensive compared to say truly derogatory cartoons and Quran burnings that have happened in some places. Now those we should rightly feel upset over. This not so much!

Offensive depends upon the context. To you, drawing the Prophet or God could be offensive but it's not an issue for Hindus. There's no universal standard.

 

[RajBan]

It's a PR stunt. There is no reason to be emotional here. One with very feeble sense of religious identity will feel offensive about action of another individual.

 

[Stewie]

Offensive depends upon the context. To you, drawing the Prophet or God could be offensive but it's not an issue for Hindus. There's no universal standard.

I don’t think you understand the way those caricatures were drawn. You think they were modeling shots? They were offensive because they showed Our Prophet in very demeaning manner. You will feel offended too if they drew Ram or some other Hindu deity in a less flattering manner.

Most people don’t realize this, they are just told “oh Muslims lost their sh** because someone depicted Muhammed” ..

No sir, although we don’t approve of it but the way the French magazines depicted our Prophet, it was Akin to hate speech. You can actually look up those cartoons and then visualize your own gods there and tell me if it doesn’t offend you.

 

[CricketCartoons]

Our religion has faced much worse insults for which nobody apologized. At least she is promoting it in some way, if she did that. It’s only offensive if you take it as offensive compared to say truly derogatory cartoons and Quran burnings that have happened in some places. Now those we should rightly feel upset over. This not so much!

Forget about outraging. Now we have people from another religion tell us what is and what is not offensive for us. So that we can decide whether to feel the pain or not. We hindus are so much below their standard that not only they whitewash attempts to mock our religion, pooh pooh attempts at co-opting our holy symbols as if it is a disney or marvel cartoon, but they also tell us that we hindus are the problem if we see any offence in it. It is truly a curse to be a hindu.

 

[RajBan]

I don’t think you understand the way those caricatures were drawn. You think they were modeling shots? They were offensive because they showed Our Prophet in very demeaning manner. You will feel offended too if they drew Ram or some other Hindu deity in a less flattering manner.

Most people don’t realize this, they are just told “oh Muslims lost their sh** because someone depicted Muhammed” ..

No sir, although we don’t approve of it but the way the French magazines depicted our Prophet, it was Akin to hate speech. You can actually look up those cartoons and then visualize your own gods there and tell me if it doesn’t offend you.

Understand your point but reacting to it just gives additional fodder to those who are really not doing it for the sake of art or to tell a story and then comes all other types of political and non political forces who simply wants to manipulate these emotions of public in their favour.

If you react to something which is gibberish or offensive in your mind but does not directly harm you then you are simply helping that individual to gain additional limelight . Same is true for all other religious and nationalist forces who always try to play the us vs them card and magnify the problem. Sometimes it's best to ignore unless something is physically harmful, it automatically dies out.

 

[Stewie]

Understand your point but reacting to it just gives additional fodder to those who are really not doing it for the sake of art or to tell a story and then comes all other types of political and non political forces who simply wants to manipulate these emotions of public in their favour.

If you react to something which is gibberish or offensive in your mind but does not directly harm you then you are simply helping that individual to gain additional limelight . Same is true for all other religious and nationalist forces who always try to play the us vs them card and magnify the problem. Sometimes it's best to ignore unless something is physically harmful, it automatically dies out.

Agreed. The reaction was never part of the discussion, I was merely stating the gravity of those offensive gestures vs Rihanna wearing a locket.

I have always maintained if your faith is strong and you believe your religion is the one true religion, you should not have to defend it from such morons. Let them have at it. They will have their comeuppance.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Deeply offensive in my opinion.

Why? Someone has already mentioned that on a visit to Indian temples there were various statues in similar states of undress, I mentioned the hindu goddess Kali of whom there are images which are similar.

It is quite difficult for those who are not versed in hindu culture to understand where the lines are drawn. If she was dressed in a sari chomping on a beefburger, now to me that would be an obvious attempt to offend. This I can't really understand so clearly.

 

[Madplayer]

I don't condone it purely because i wouldnt want it to being done against my faith.

Hindus should however counter the questions about nudist art in their temples because a lot of times some hindus cite it as an example to prove that they are okay with nudity or scantly dressed women. This raises confusion among others who are not well versed with hinduism.

 

[CricketCartoons]

I don't condone it purely because i wouldnt want it to being done against my faith.

Hindus should however counter the questions about nudist art in their temples because a lot of times some hindus cite it as an example to prove that they are okay with nudity or scantly dressed women. This raises confusion among others who are not well versed with hinduism.

True. The enemies of hindu faith are not muslims or christians ( sure they are a civilizational force we have to defend against), but the real enemies are the zombie hindus, who were brought up in a hindu family but not given any teachings to respect their traditions. Usually these are the first responders when someone attacks hindu faith. They will say, hey I am also a hindu and I am not offended by it. Slavery is in their blood. A Muslim, no matter how weak or defenceless, doesn't give up on his faith. I always pray to Bhagwan ji, that give me the imaan of a momin.

 

[Madplayer]

True. The enemies of hindu faith are not muslims or christians ( sure they are a civilizational force we have to defend against), but the real enemies are the zombie hindus, who were brought up in a hindu family but not given any teachings to respect their traditions. Usually these are the first responders when someone attacks hindu faith. They will say, hey I am also a hindu and I am not offended by it. Slavery is in their blood. A Muslim, no matter how weak or defenceless, doesn't give up on his faith. I always pray to Bhagwan ji, that give me the imaan of a momin.

There are some people who will go to any lengths to get into the good books of the liberal folk. They want to appear modern at any cost even if it means misleading others.

 

[CricketCartoons]

There are some people who will go to any lengths to get into the good books of the liberal folk. They want to appear modern at any cost even if it means misleading others.

There are many muslims and christians who are liberal without feeling the need to mock their own religion. It is something I have seen predominantly among indian hindus. Maybe years of being ruled altered their psychological DNA, so either they have hatred for muslims/westerners or identify with the ex rulers and look down upon hindus.

 

[CricketCartoons]

Have started to see positives. At least it makes some people happy when hindus are in pain. So our pain is not entirely in vain.

 

[Itachi]

I don't condone it purely because i wouldnt want it to being done against my faith.

Hindus should however counter the questions about nudist art in their temples because a lot of times some hindus cite it as an example to prove that they are okay with nudity or scantly dressed women. This raises confusion among others who are not well versed with hinduism.

Depends on context. Kamdev or rati devi are gods of love, lust.... So if you depict something relating to them, then no one probably would oppose. But if you take other gods, then it becomes a different issue.

Unless you are accustomed with polytheism, one shouldn't try these stunts.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Depends on context. Kamdev or rati devi are gods of love, lust.... So if you depict something relating to them, then no one probably would oppose. But if you take other gods, then it becomes a different issue.

Unless you are accustomed with polytheism, one shouldn't try these stunts.

Can you confirm categorically that if Rihanna had worn a pendant of kamdev or rati devi, there would have been no backlash? You describe it as a stunt, but non-hindus probably don't have so much knowledge of do's and don'ts of hindu culture and this is partly down to hindus themselves not making their position clear in recent history.

One positive aspect of the RSS and BJP coming to power is that at least now this is being brought to light and some interfaith discourse is taking place.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Rhianna will be fine, it is not like anyone will cut her head or other body parts off as retaliation. Protesting is fine and thats how it should be, no violence...

I think this is more to do with her having huge bodyguards.

There has been reports Rihanna has faced serious threats from Indians after the farmer tweet, includes threats to murder and rape. Rape seems to be the most common threat made against women from people in India. We both pray she stays safe , even though I disagree with her wearing such a holy figure in such a manner.

 

[ManFan]

Shouldn’t have done that.

Imagine the backlash if she posted a cartoon of something related to Islam.