Chamundeshwari Temple, Mysore

Perched atop Chamundi Hill above Mysore, this temple to Chamundeshwari -- tutelary deity of the Wodeyar dynasty and the namesake of Mysore's Dasara, India's grandest royal festival tradition -- was substantially rebuilt in the 17th century and given its present seven-tier gold-tipped gopuram in 1827 under Krishnaraja Wodeyar III. A 1,000-step stone stairway ascends the hill, punctuated midway by a monolithic Nandi carved in 1659, one of the largest such statues in Karnataka. The temple's fortunes are inseparable from Mysore's royal history: the Wodeyars credited Chamundeshwari with their line's survival, and the city's spectacular Dasara procession culminates in rituals connecting the palace directly to this hilltop shrine.