Mahatma Gandhi's family is pleading with the Indian government to force an Australian food take-out restaurant called Handi Ghandi -- "Great Curries...No Worries" -- to stop using the vegetarian pacifist to sell its food.

According to its Web site ( www.handighandi.com ), the company sells a range of meat and vegetarian curries -- including beef, which is sacred to Hindus and forbidden.

It's offensive," Tushar Gandhi, the activist's Bombay-based great-grandson and head of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, told Reuters. "It goes absolutely against all his beliefs. Using his image to sell beef curries and such doesn't gel.

It is not clear if the company's spelling of the name is intentional or not, but "Ghandi" is a popular moniker.