A futile effort to shut Chamundi Hill steps

Gates closed since lockdown but people sneak in from the sides

Mysuru:  The 1,008 steps leading to the Chamundi Hilltop continues to be a place of attraction for fitness freaks and also to the young crowd — a majority of them college students — who frequent the steps despite the gates leading to the steps being closed ever since the pandemic began.

For those who are still adamant of climbing the steps despite gates being shut, there is a small space by the side of the gate where people can squeeze in if they want to, provided they are ready to take the risk of sustaining scratch marks. This small space has become popular now and many are taking this route to reach the Hilltop.

For the fitness enthusiasts, climbing the steps is an integral part of their fitness regime. For many morning and evening walkers and joggers, it is a mandatory routine — to climb the steps early in the morning, have darshan of Goddess Sri Chamundeshwari and return home as the Sun gets hotter. However, of late, they are unable to ascend the steps as the gates are closed.

According to people who stroll near the foothill, the gates were closed when the lockdown was imposed last year and it was never opened. Even for this Dasara festival they were not open as the District Administration wanted to prevent surging crowds during the inauguration.

According to local villagers, the gates of the steps were opened only on Oct. 14 (Ayudha Puja day) this year when Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje visited the Chamundi Hill Temple.

She has a practice of climbing the steps on Ashada Friday but this year, she could not make it during Ashada as she was preoccupied with her work in New Delhi after being inducted as the Union Minister. “The gates of the steps were opened on Oct. 14 specially for Shobha Karandlaje and after her step-climbing ritual, the gates were shut again,” villagers said.

The Hill’s dense green cover, coupled with its proximity to the city has always made it a favourite haunt among locals. The 1,008-step stairway is believed to date back to 1659 when Maharaja Dodda Devaraja Wadiyar reigned over Mysuru.

The administration’s move to shut the step entry has inconvenienced the devotees who have taken vows to climb the steps. For many devotees, it is a way of fulfilling a vow where women carry arishina-kumkuma (vermilion-turmeric) in arecanut palm leaf plates and climb the steps up to the Temple (Hejje Pooje). They stop at every step to apply arishina-kumkuma on their way up the Hill.

Regulars have appealed to the District Administration and the Temple authorities to open the gates as now the COVID pandemic is on the declining trend and also as most of the population have been vaccinated with two doses.