Sri Nandi
This photograph of the Sri Nandi Temple, taken in the 1890s by an unknown photographer, is from the Curzon Collection’s ‘Souvenir of Mysore Album’. The Chamundi hill is a rocky hill about two miles southeast of the Fort of Mysore Karnataka, India. A flight of stone steps leads to the top of the hill, and two-thirds of the way up, cut out of the solid rock ( granite ), is a colossal figure of Nandi, the sacred Bull.
The caption notes of the photographer read: ”…16 feet in height. It has been cut out of the solid rock, and, though the carving does not entitle it to be considered a work of art, yet, the gigantic size, the correct proportions, and the labor expended on it command admiration. “