Mysore

Mysore stands beneath Chamundi Hill on the southern Deccan plateau. Its name recalls Mahishasura, the buffalo demon the goddess Chamundeshwari is said to have slain on the hill. The Wodeyar family ruled from here, and the kingdom they built took the city's name. The palace and temples within the fort made Mysore a royal centre even when the court itself lay elsewhere.

In 1524 Chamaraja Wodeyar III built the earthen Mahishuru fort here. The Wodeyars were then vassals of Vijayanagara, but after the empire's fall at Talikota in 1565 they gradually grew independent. In 1610 Raja Wodeyar I captured Srirangapatna on the Kaveri from the Vijayanagara viceroy and moved his court to the island fortress. In the eighteenth century power passed to the soldier Hyder Ali and then to his son Tipu Sultan, who demolished the old palace in 1793 to remove the memory of the Wodeyars. After British and allied forces stormed Srirangapatna in 1799 and Tipu died there, a young Wodeyar, Krishnaraja III, was set on the throne under British protection. The court returned to Mysore, and a new palace finished in 1803 made the city the kingdom's centre again.