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HeadlineLondon designer angers Hindu cleric with ‘goddess’ swimsuit

Short HeadlineLondon designer angers Hindu cleric

StandfirstHindu cleric Rajan Zed demands the designer recalls her swimsuit collection that features the Hindu goddess 'Durga'

London based fashion designer Sera Ulger has come under fire for her “Goddess” range swimsuit which features the Hindu goddess Durga.

Prominent Hindu cleric Rajan Zed has criticised it’s “highly inappropriate” depiction of the protective mother goddess.

Mr Zed, who gave the first official Hindu prayer at the United States Senate in 2007, said of the collection:

“Goddess Durga is highly revered in Hinduism and meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines, and not to adorn one’s buttocks and crotch.”

Mr Zed has urged the designer to withdraw the collection and apologise, adding:

“Hindus are for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else, if not more. But faith is something sacred and attempts at trivialising it hurt the followers.”

Ms Ulger has defended her designs saying that they are empowering for women:

“My brand is about girl-power and woman-power and the Durga represents this”.

The 30-year-old designer said that the swimsuit represents her own journey with yoga and meditation.

This isn’t the first time Rajan Zed has called businesses out for appropriating Hindu culture.

Amazon forced to pull a range of doormats with imprints of Hindu gods and goddesses after a campaign from Mr Zed and Tollgate Brewhouse similarly discontinued a beer featuring the Hindu goddess Kali following pressure from the cleric.

Ms Ulger won’t be withdrawing her design but has issued a formal apology to the Hindu community. “I do want to sincerely apologise to the Hindu community for offending them without meaning to. I had no intention to hurt anyone during my design process.

“It would cost me thousands of pounds to take the swimsuit out of production, that’s money I don’t have,” she said.

Above all, the designer says that she wants to be able to express herself.

“Art will always be divisive. My swimsuit is here to empower women and talk about my journeys. I don’t want to stop doing it just because someone tells me to.