Hanuman: Boy Warrior gets brickbats from Hindus

MUMBAI, INDIA: Accusing the much-hyped PlayStation 2 game of “trivializing” Lord Hanuman, some Hindu groups have launched an online protest against 'Hanuman: Boy Warrior', the recently developed console game from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE).

Severely criticizing 'Boy Warrior' a few US and Australia-based Hindu groups asked Sony to withdraw the game from the market.

The game, which was recently launched in Mumbai, has Hanuman as the protagonist.

What irked the Hindus is that in the video game, players get to control the destiny of Lord Hanuman, who, according to them, has the power to control their destiny in the real world.

"Controlling and manipulating Lord Hanuman with a joystick, button, keyboard, or mouse is denigration," said American Hindu leader Rajan Zed.

However, SCEE PlayStation said it has not received any direct communication from the groups.

“Hindus in Australia and USA have started this movement and posted their requests on the web. Till this time, there has been no direct communication with the said groups and we haven't received any intimation from them officially," said SCEE PlayStation country manager Atindriya Bose.

Claiming that the game was created to "encourage young Indians to celebrate the stories of Lord Hanuman and to help bring the key lessons to life", SCEE said it has no plans to withdraw the game from the market. The game is available only in India.

What is your response to such an online protest? Is the religious sentiments so fragile to be hurt by a game?