N. Ragupathy, an 80-year-old philatelist from Thanjavur, started his hobby 30 years ago, before narrowing his focus to Hinduism and Hindu culture. He now has over 1,500 stamps and covers on Hinduism released in over 125 countries.
“Stamps on ‘Aum’ have been released in Trinidad and Kenya, but not in India so far,” said Mr. Ragupathy, who has won the silver medal at the Sydney Stamp and Coin Expo. He has participated in exhibitions in other parts of India and won awards. His collection includes a few stamps that are over 100 years old. A stamp released in 1877 was on Dhanurveda, a Sanskrit treatise on warfare and archery.
A lesson in Delhi
A “bitter experience” at a philatelic exhibition in Delhi forced him to concentrate on stamps on Hinduism and Hindu Culture.
“There were stamps on Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. When asked about the missing of the collection on Hinduism, the philatelist behind the Sikhism section made some derogatory remarks. That day, I decided to collect stamps on Hinduism,” said Mr. Raghupathy, who retired as a personal assistant to the Thanjavur Collector.
He acknowledged the help rendered by G. Balakrishna Das, the former president of the South India Philatelists’ Association, and Abdul Aziz, a philatelist from Varanasi, in collecting stamps. “Mr. Aziz helped me a lot in collecting stamps released in foreign countries,” said Mr. Raghupathy, who had a stamp depicting Lord Siva and Parvati released by Czechoslovakia. There are stamps on Vinayaka Chaturthi, Deepavali and Maha Shivaratri released in various countries.
He has listed the stamps under ‘Hinduism, an analytical study’, which runs up to 257 pages.
“I have approached various organisations to prevail upon the Indian government to release a stamp on ‘Aum’. But I am not able to succeed... Let the government do it by taking inspiration from Kenya and Trinidad,” he said.
