Chamundi Hill

     The Chamundi Hills are close to the palace city of Mysore where we are staying. The hills' average elevation is 1,000 meters. Yesterday we visited Chamuni Hill after seeing two amazing NGOs. One worked with children who are deaf and the other worked with people with mental disabilities. According to legend (Wikipedia), the demon Mahishasura, king of the area that is currently Mysore, was killed by the Goddess Chamundeswari (also Chamundi) after a fierce battle. The hills are named after the goddess, and a temple honors her in the hills. Chamundi's main hill features a long stone stairway, in which we climbed, that leads to the top of the hill. There are 1,180 steps in all, with the first 600 steps being steeper than those higher up. En route to the top, the steps pass the large statue of Nandi the bull. I am pictured with the bull above.The statue is about 16 feet high and 25 feet in length. Nandi is the vahana (vehicle) of Lord Shiva.