Chamundi Hills, Sacred hill complex in Mysuru, India

Chamundi Hills is a broad, elongated granite hill east of Mysuru, its ridge rising to about 1,060 metres and covered in dense green vegetation with patches of bare rock. Thin masts stand at the summit, where the Chamundeshwari Temple sits. A stone stairway of 1,008 steps climbs to the top.

The hill was already a pilgrimage site by the 10th century, when inscriptions call it Mabbela Tirtha or Marbbalada Tirtha and record sages attaining siddhi there. The Mahabaleshvara Temple, the oldest on the hill, predates Hoysala Vishnuvardhana; a 1128 inscription records a grant to the site. The Chamundeshwari Temple was renovated in 1827 under Krishnaraja Wodeyar III.

The hill takes its name from the Chamundeshwari Temple at its summit, and the city's own name derives from Mahishooru, "the village of Mahishasura", the demon the goddess slew. During the Wadiyar rule the Maharaja rode in a golden howdah on an elephant in the Vijayadashami procession; after independence an idol of Chamundeshwari took his place and Dasara became a state festival. The Mahabaleshvara Temple holds a car festival and Teppotsava.

The hill lies about 13 km east of Mysuru, with road access from Mysuru and Nanjangud; Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses run from the city roughly every 20 minutes. The stone stairway to the summit has 1,008 steps, built in 1659 by Dodda Devaraja Wodeyar, and flattens out after the Nandi statue halfway up. Bengaluru airport is about 160 km away.

A colossal black granite figure of a bull stands halfway up, measuring 4.9 meters in height and 7.6 meters in length. This Nandi statue attracts many devotees who pause briefly on their way upward.