INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, January 26
Locals and activists, in the presence of various government authorities and security forces, today removed the
religious pictures or symbols painted on the two sculptures of life-size yeti — Visit Nepal 2020 mascot — placed in Basantapur area.
The
VNY Secretariat is placing yeti mascots at various tourist destinations across the country and these mascots show main highlights and
attraction of the particular place.
Many locals and activists say that painting images of gods or any other symbols related to any religion
on the mascots has created confusion among people.
Many people take such yeti mascots as god statue.
A picture went viral on social media
today, where a woman is seen worshipping the mascot placed outside Boudhanath Stupa, a world heritage site
The mascot has a picture of the under-construction stupa.
Local activist Ganapati Lal Shrestha said, &It is an attack on people religious
belief as they portray the yeti as god.& He added that the paintings of the revered goddess Kumari on the body of Yeti and lord Gautam
Buddha on the back of it and various gods and goddesses and religious symbols on various body part of the Yeti mascot is also
condemnable.
The mascot placed at Basantapur had an image of living goddess Kumari painted on its forehead.
Yeti is a mythical creature
which is said to be found in the Himalayan mountains.
Niti Shrestha, consultant at the office of NVY Secretariat said that they did not
intend to hurt anyone religious sentiments, they were rather trying to promote cultural and religious significance of the area by portraying
those images and symbols on the mascot
She said that yeti was famous in various folklores, and foreigners identified them with mythical characters like Big foot.
Sangam Dhakal, an
official at the VNY Secretariat, said they would now be more careful in choosing images or symbols to be painted on the body of the mascot
&We will think of painting pictures of various flora and fauna and natural heritage on the mascots.
The post Religious images removed from
mascot appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
