Hanuman

Santa Claus

Botad district

Gujarat

After being called a Dalit, Muslim, Jain, Jat and tribal, Lordis now being called Santa. Photographs of the Lord’s idol, dressed in what is being perceived asrobe, have rattled many on social media. The images, from Salanpur temple in, put up on social media showed the idol dressed in red clothes. Similarities were promptly drawn between Hanuman and Santa Claus, with a few wondering what objective was to be achieved by such an act.There were several vitriolic comments as well, with one of the critics asking the priests to stop shaming Hindu religion, while another saying that it would be no surprise if they dressed the idol in green robe and a skull cap on Eid. However, Salangpur Hanuman Temple head priest Kothari Viveksagar Swami termed the controversy baseless. He said, “Our temple is a centre for faith for devotees of Lord Hanuman. The said attire in red is actually a set of woolen clothes sent by our devote Dharam Patel from the US. You can compare it with robe of Santa Claus. There is no resemblance between them. We dressed the idol of the Lord in the woolen clothes as ‘Dhanurmas’ is on and there is also cold prevailing in the region. It is believed that the lord goes to school in the morning. So he was given red woolen clothes. Someone called it Santa look and spread the misunderstanding.Those who have doubts should come to the temple and see for themselves if it is Santa Claus attire or not.” Interestingly, after the controversy, the clothes were changed in the evening. When asked about it, Viveksagar Swami said, “As a regular practice, we change the clothes of the Lord thrice a day. It is not that we changed the clothes after the controversy.”Asked if any Hindu organisation had objected to the attire, Kothari said, “We don’t want to get into who spread the message. Whosoever has done it, the message should not have been misguiding.”Hemant Bhatt, a city-based businessman who regularly goes to Salangpur, said, “I don’t mind if Lord Hanuman is given a Santa Claus look as it is a tradition to celebrate various festivals with God. I saw the picture. I don’t think the idol looks like Santa.”Ashok Raval, general secretary of VHP, said, “I am not aware of the issue. But if Hanumanji was dressed in Santa Claus robe, I think there is no need to do so. We have our own festivals to celebrate.”