MYSORE
15-ft monolithic Nandi sits at the 700th of roughly 1,000 steps up the hill — only worth the climb if you're doing the steps anyway; skip if you're driving straight to the top
This monolithic Nandi (Shiva's bull mount), carved from a single block of black granite, was commissioned by Maharaja Dodda Devaraja Wodeyar and installed between 1659 and 1664, roughly midway up the stone stairway he built to the temple summit. Standing about 4.9 m tall and 7.6 m long, it ranks among the largest monolithic Nandi statues in India and is depicted mid-rise, with one foreleg folded as if about to stand. The statue sits near the 700th-800th step of the original 1,000-plus step pilgrim staircase constructed the same year.
