An American games company has faced severe criticism for creating a character that depicts the female Hindu goddess Kali in a pornographic and "slutty manner".

Hindu groups are protesting against Hi-Rez Studios, a US-based company, which has launched an online game, SMITE, an online battleground of mythical gods and features a number of other Hindu gods and goddesses such as Vamana and Agni.

"In fact, given Hinduism's concept of a single truth with multiple physical manifestations, one could validly interpret ALL the gods within Smite to be Hindu. And all gods outside of Smite as well. Ponder that for a minute. Anyway, going forward Smite will include even more deities, not fewer," Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris has been quoted as saying.

In an official statement, Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said "Video game makers should be more sensitive while handling faith-related subjects and no faith, larger or smaller, should be trampled. As these games left lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people; such inappropriate depictions would create more misunderstandings about Hinduism, which was already a highly misunderstood religion in the West."