Chamundeswari HIll Temple
Chamundi Hill
is one of the landmark tourist attractions of
Mysore, and it never fails to fall on the itenerary of those visiting Mysore.
Other historic temples in the vicinity of Mysore
are
Srirangapatna,
Talakkad and
Somnathpur.
The Chamundeeswari
temple is located on a hill in the vicinity of Mysore and is accessed through a
motorable road.
Chamundeeswari
the tutelary deity of the Mysore Maharajas has been held in reverence for
centuries, and the
Wodeyars
of Mysore have made extensive contributions to this shrine.
A flight of one
thousand steps built by the Maharaja
Dodda Devaraja
in 1659 also leads up to the summit of the hill which is at a height of about
3000 feet.
Chamraja
Wodeyar IV is said to have worshipped here in
1573 and was miraculously saved from a lightning hit.
Krishnaraja
III (late 18th century) built the temple
tower and presented the
Nakshatramalika
jewel with sanskrit verses inscribed on it.
Thus much of the current
temple is the result of renovation efforts carried out in early nineteenth
century, although the original shrine is much older. Chamundi Hill has been
associated with the
Hoysala ruler
Vishnu Vardhana (12th century) and
with the
Vijayanagar
rulers of the 17th century.
Chamundeeswari, or
Durga
is the fierce form of Shakti who vanquished the demon
Mahishasuran.
A colorful image of the demon greets visitors as they reach the summit of the
hill.
Also on this temple
are several images of
Nandi
(the bull mount of Shiva). The best known of these is the collossal Nandi on the
800th step on the hill. This Nandi is over 15 feet high, and 24 feet long. It
was created during the reign of Dodda Devaraja, who also built the steps leading
up the hill.
There are also
shrines dedicated to
Shiva -
Mahabaleshwar (attributed to Vishnu
Vardhana the Hoysala ruler of the 12th century CE) and Lakshmi Narayana - Vishnu
on this hill
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