Chamundi Hill, 3km southeast of the city, is topped with a temple to the chosen deity of the Mysore Rajas; the goddess Chamundi, or Durga, who slew the demon buffalo Mahishasura. It's a pleasant, easy bus trip (#101 from the city stand) to the top; the walk down, past a huge Nandi, Shiva’s bull, takes about thirty minutes. Pilgrims, of course, make the trip in reverse order. Take drinking water to sustain you, especially in the middle of the day.

Don’t be surprised if, at the top of the hill, dominated by the temple’s forty-metre gopura, you’re struck by a feeling of de’ja vu – one of the highly educational displays at the Godly Museum states that "5000 years ago at this time you had visited this place in the same way you are visiting now. Because world drama repeats itself identically every 5000 years". Suitably edified, you can proceed along a path from the bus stand, to the temple square. Immediately to the right, at the end of this path, are four bollards painted with red stripe; return here for path down the hill.

Non-Hindus can visit the twelfth-century temple, staffed by friendly priests who will plaster your forehead in vermillion paste. The Chamundi figure inside is solid gold; outside, in the courtyard, stands a fearsome, if gaily coloured, statue of the demon Mahishasura. On leaving, if you continue by the path instead of retracing your steps, you can return to the square via two other temples and various buildings storing ceremonial paraphernalia, and animal figures used during Dussehra. The magnificent five-metre Nandi, carved from a single piece of black-granite in 1659, is an object of worship himself, adorned with bells and garlands and tended by his own priest. Minor shrines, dedicated to Chamundi and the monkey god Hanuman among others, line the side of the path.