Online shopping site Myntra.com distanced itself from a controversial poster of Lord Krishna showing him ordering clothes from the retailer as Draupadi was being disrobed.
Taking off from the Mahabharata epic, the poster depcits Krishna searching for ‘extra long sarees’ as Dushasana peels off Draupadi’s clothes.
According to the epic, Draupadi was pawned by her husbands in a game of dice. Her husbands lost the bet and she was left to be publicly insulted by the winners led Duryodhan as they stood by.
According to the Bharata, she was however rescued by Lord Krishna, who supplied her endless reams of cloth to save her honor.
The Myntra poster — an attempt at a humorous interpretation of the event — however was not appreciated by many people on Twitter.
The poster was created by Scroll Droll, a new generation social media oriented content company. Soon after Scroll Droll published the image, #BoycottMyntra started trending on Twitter. It had over 9,400 tweets and was at No.8 on the list of most tweeted hashtags on the social media website today.
Following the mass #BoycoottMyntra tag, Myntra reached out to people on twitter saying it was not involved in the creation of the poster.
“We did not create this artwork nor do we endorse this,” Myntra tweeted. “This creative was done and posted by a third party ScrollDroll without our knowledge or approval.”
Myntra also retweeted an apology from Scroll Droll which said: “We take up the responsibility of this artwork. Myntra is nowhere associated with it directly or indirectly.”
Myntra also said they are pursuing legal action against them for using its brand.
This is not the first time religious believers have felt offended by posters and advertisements featuring divine figures.
Earlier this year, Indian captain MS Dhoni was issued a non-bailable arrest warrant in a case filed by a VHP activist against him after a magazine portrayed him as Vishnu with the tag ‘God of Big Deals’.
Myntra’s rival Snapdeal also ran into trouble with supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party after its brand ambassador Amir Khan said there was rising fear of intolerance in India.