Standing as the crown jewel of Mysore, Chamundi Hills is the abode of all powerful Goddess, Chamundi or Chamundeswari. A motorable road, besides a flight of 1,000 steps, take the visitors to its top, where stands the beautiful tall Gopuram of the temple, one of the best examples of the Dravidian school of architecture. The hill rises to a height of 3,489 feet. Half-way to it, near the steps and the road, there is a beautiful 16-foot monolith statue of Nandi, carved in granite, black because of regular anointing with oil and other sacred waters. The beautiful carved statue was a gift by the Maharaja, Dodda Devaraja Wodeyar, in 1659. Nearby the Chamundi Temple is the Lalithadri Palace, used by the former Mysore Maharajas, whenever they visited the Hills, for worshipping the Goddess, their home deity, in the temple. By the side of the famous Chamundi Temple, there is another temple, the temple of Mahabaleswara. In fact, Mahabaleswara, Ishwara in the form of Linga, is the oldest temple on the hill. The hill was earlier called Mahabaladri, after Mahabaleswara. This temple was a gift by the Vijayanagar King Vishnuvardhana in 1128 A.D. As one approaches the road towards the temple, there is a huge statue of monster Mahishasura. There is a small township on the hill. State Government buses (KSRTC) ply regularly to the temple from Mysore City.