Upset Hindus are urging Bangkok’s majestic rooftop destination, Akara Sky Hanuman, to remove Hindu deity Lord Hanuman’s name and symbols from its “Hanuman Sky Bar & Restaurant”; calling it highly inappropriate.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Lord Hanuman was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for selling liquor and beef. Inappropriate usage of sacred Hindu deities or concepts or symbols or icons for mercantile greed or other agenda was not okay, as it hurt the devotees.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged Akara Sky Hanuman and its CEO to offer a formal apology; besides changing the name of “Hanuman Sky Bar & Restaurant” and removing from it all the symbols representing Lord Hanuman.
Selling beef and alcoholic drinks in the name of a Hindu deity and right near his large statue was a desecration. Cow, the seat of many deities, was sacred and had long been venerated in Hinduism. Akara Sky Hanuman management should have shown some maturity when naming a bar-restaurant; Rajan Zed indicated.
Majestic rooftop destinations should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities. It was deeply trivializing of the immensely venerated Lord Hanuman to be treated like this; Zed emphasized.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.2 billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken frivolously. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled; Rajan Zed noted.
Zed further said that such trivialization of a greatly venerated Hindu deity was disturbing to the Hindus world over. Hindus were for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more. But faith was something sacred and attempts at trivializing it were insensitive, Zed added.
In 2023, luxury hotel chain Kempinski offered “most sincere apologies” and “deepest regrets” and renamed its bar carrying the name of Hindu deity Hanuman in its Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok after Hindus protested calling it “highly inappropriate”.
In Hinduism, Lord Hanuman is known for incredible strength and was a perfect grammarian.
“Hanuman Sky Bar & Restaurant” reportedly offers various beef dishes and a variety of alcoholic drinks.
Akara Sky Hanuman claims itself to be “the world’s first & highest Thai cultural rooftop experience”. It is stated to be “276 metres above Bangkok” in three levels and ten zones. Besides “Hanuman Sky Bar & Restaurant”, its other “experiences” include Sky Observation Deck, Sky Night Market, Virtual Loy Krathong, Hanuman Cinema, Siam Societies, Siam Costumes, Bangkok Reflection, Baan Hanuman, Sky Thai Kitchen, Virtual Sky Lantern.
