An online gift shop based in Pembrokeshire has removed socks carrying images of Hindu deity Lord Ganesha; after Hindus protested that they were ‘highly inappropriate’.

Wisdom Wares, which operates from Haverfordwest, was previously selling Hop Hare Bamboo Socks – Ganesha for £7.95 a pair.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed said that Lord Ganesha was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to adorn one’s legs, feet, ankles or calves or absorb sweat.

“Inappropriate usage of sacred Hindu deities or concepts or symbols or icons for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees,” he said.

“It was deeply trivializing of the immensely venerated Lord Ganesha to be treated like this.”

Zed, who is goes by the title President of Universal Society of Hinduism, spearheaded the campaign to remove the socks from his home in Nevada, USA.

He thanked Wisdom Wares for understanding the concerns of the Hindu community, which felt that such a product was insensitive, but said that he was still waiting for a formal apology from Wisdom Wares.

He said that he had searched for the socks on the Wisdom Wares website and found they were no longer in stock.

“Online retailers should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities,” he said.

“It was deeply trivializing of the immensely venerated Lord Ganesha to be treated like this.

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

Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion in the world with about 1.2 billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought.

Lord Ganesha is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking.

“Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled,” said Zed.

A spokesperson for Wisdom Wares said: “We have removed the Hop Hare Bamboo Socks that depicted the Lord Ganesha, as we were approached during the weekend in this regard.

“We respect all valid objections to our products on sale and apologise to the Hindu community if the listing of this item caused any offence.”