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NEW DELHI: Hindus are upset at the depiction of the image of Lord Shiva in Nataraja form on leggings, harem-pants and skirts, by the internationally acclaimed Indian designer Manish Arora’s fashion label, which they termed repugnant.

Miniskirts, harem pants and leggings with the dancing Nataraj motif were available on order on the company website.

Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said it was disturbing to see the image of Lord Shiva, revered in Hindu religion, on a person’s legs.

Lord Shiva was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be desecrated by wearing on the legs and other lower parts of the body for the mercantile greed of a fashion house, Zed argued.

Zed wanted designer-manufacturer Manish Arora to publicly apologize, stop selling and immediately recall all such legwear which showed the Hindu god.

"Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees...symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled," Rajan Zed stressed.

"Manish Arora should have known better the significance of Lord Shiva and how he was venerated among Hindus," he added.

’Manish Arora’ label, launched in 1997, is patronized by famous entertainers like Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Rihanna, Kate Moss, Katy Perry, and M.I.A. Its website is www.manisharora.ws, in which .ws is the Internet country code top-level domain for Samoa, an island in South Pacific Ocean.

Nataraja (Lord of the dance) is a well known iconic representation of Lord Shiva, symbolizing his salvific, destructive, and creative roles; when he dances the world to destruction to create it again as a chapter of the ongoing cosmic cycle. Shiva, along with Brahma and Vishnu, forms the great triad of Hindu deities.

Recently, a model displayed an image of Goddess Lakshmi on a bikini of Australiam swimwear label ’Lisa Blue’ at a fashion event held in Sydney, which sparked protests. The company immediately apologized, and stopped the offending swimwear’s production.