Male Mahadeshwara Hills

Male Mahadeshwara Betta is a pilgrim town in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district, about 150 km from Mysuru and 210 km from Bengaluru, at roughly 3,000 feet. Its temple honours Male Mahadeshwara, a 15th-century saint regarded as an incarnation of Shiva, who is believed to be still in penance in the sanctum in the form of a self-manifested linga. Legend says he rode a tiger and worked miracles, such as healing sick cattle, and village singers still tell these stories in folk style. The temple is credited to Junje Gowda, a Kuruba landlord and devotee, and draws lakhs of pilgrims from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The hills form a bridge between the Eastern and Western Ghats, bounded by the Kaveri and the Palar, and rise to 1,514 metres at Ponnachi Betta. Their forests, from evergreen to dry deciduous, hold elephants, gaur, sambar, sloth bear and, more rarely, tigers, leopards and wild dogs, and much of the area has been declared a wildlife sanctuary.