In a first, Hindu gods on US 'stamps'

Hindu gods have made their way into US mail, with an Atlanta based company headed by an Indian American launching a series of legally valid custom-made postage stamps.

The first of these 44 cent stamps featuring Sri Krishna, Shiva-Parvathi, Lakshmi, Lord Venkateshwara, Murugan, Vinayaka and Sai Baba were issued by usa-postage.com last month.

The company made use of a six-year-old US Postal Service (USPS) rule that permits issue of customised postages to launch the series.

"Customised postage sheets are ideal for giving as gift items. Indian community living in the US can order online as a gift item," company vice president Ennar Chilakapati said.

"These postages have not been issued by the US Postal Service, but these are as good as stamps and are legally valid. We do not call them stamps. We call them postages. But these can be used as any other normal stamp," a USPS spokesman said.

The Hindu gods follow the tradition of 'Sunny Funnies', a series of stamps featuring popular cartoon characters such as Calvin and Hobbes and Archie conceptualised by the USPS.