01Mahishuru
The Devi Mahatmya of the Markandeya Purana tells how the devas, driven from heaven by the buffalo-asura Mahishasura, poured their radiance into one form, and Durga came forth and killed him after nine days of battle. Mysuru’s own tradition places that battle on this hill, and the city’s old name, Mahishuru, keeps the asura’s memory. A painted statue of Mahishasura with sword and cobra stands near the top. Devi is worshipped here as Chamundeshwari, the form that slew Chanda and Munda. Fridays in the month of Ashadha bring the largest crowds, along with Navaratri, when the temple decks her in a different alankara each day.
02A thousand steps and a Nandi
In 1659 Dodda Devaraja Wodeyar laid a stairway of about a thousand stone steps up the hill. Two-thirds of the way up he had a Nandi cut from one rock, about 4.9 m high, with bells and garlands carved round his neck, and it is still worshipped by those who climb. Krishnaraja Wodeyar III raised the seven-storey gopuram in 1827. Raja Wodeyar I began the Wodeyar Dasara in 1610, taking up the Mahanavami of Vijayanagara, and on Vijayadashami the utsava murti of Chamundeshwari is carried in the golden howdah through Mysuru in the Jamboo Savari.
The life of this place
- 1610Raja Wodeyar I begins the Mysore Dasara.
- 1659Dodda Devaraja Wodeyar builds the stairway and the monolithic Nandi.
- 1827Krishnaraja Wodeyar III raises the gopuram.
A road goes to the top, but climb the steps at dawn if you can, and stop at the Nandi. Ashadha Fridays and Navaratri are very crowded.
