A 12-year-old Hindu soccer player of Indian origin Shubh Patel was reportedly asked to leave the field during a match for wearing a ‘mala’ in Australia’s Brisbane. The mala was was made of basil wood beeds (kanthi mala), worn by some adherents of Hinduism.
As per The Australia Today, Shubh on getting an ultimatum from the referee politely declined to remove his mala which he has been wearing since the age of five.
“I would rather keep following my religion than like break it…just for one soccer game,” said Shubh while speaking with the media. The young member of the Toowong club informed that it was against Hinduism to remove the mala.
Shubh, Swaminarayan sect follower, further said, “If I would have taken it off then at that time God would have felt that I have stopped believing in Him.”
The Hindu boy asserted that the mala provides him comfort and also makes…
