Male Mahadeshwara Betta (Hill), is a pilgrim town located in the Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district of southern Karnataka.

Junje Gowda is the legendary builder of the Male Mahadeshwara temple in hanur taluk of Chamarajanagara District.

Junje Gowda is said to be responsible for all the temples built in the mountainous region of eastern Karnataka called the Mahadeshwara Hills.

According to tradition there are seven peaks identified in the legend - Anumale, Jenumale, Kanumale, Kadumale, Pachchemale, Pavalamale, Ponnachimale.

The temple was under the control & management of Sri Salur Mutt established by the Lord Mahadeshwara himself until it was handed over to the Madras Government in the year 1953.

A pilgrimage to Male Mahadeshwara temple also includes a holy dip in the Antaragange (literally "a stream flowing from a perennial source").

The outer structure of the epic resembles the pan-Indian Ramayana : Shiva incarnates himself on earth as Mahadeshwara to destroy an evil king called Shravanasura ('The Hero as Saviour' motif).

However, the entire epic is sung by some pilgrims on their way to the annual fair on the Mahadeshwara Betta; and it may last for seven consecutive nights.

This episode dramatises the suffering of a proud woman called 'Sankamma,' and the ordeals that she successfully undergoes in order to retain her dignity as a virtuous wife.

The fifth episode, slightly comic in tone, depicts the rise and fall of a vainglorious and miserly woman, called 'Bevinatti Kalamma.'

The last but one episode narrates how Mahadeshwara gets two simple and god-fearing people, Moogayya and his wife, as his devotee religion family.

The confluence of these two rivers is located at the southeast corner of the Male Mahadeshwara forest, with the Stanley Reservoir further downstream.

[4] Apart from being a pilgrimage centre, the Male Mahadeshwara Hills possess large tracts of forest area rich in sandalwood and bamboo.

The Male Mahadeshwara Reserve Forests, has an approximate area of 39361.45 hectares and has a few small villages like Ponnachi, Kombadikki, Kokkebore, Doddane, Tokere, Tulsikere,Puduru village, Thambadi street or Thambadigere, Palar, Gopinatham, Indiganatha, etc., as enclosures within the reserve forests.

The then chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who presided over the meeting, approved this under Section 26A (I) (B) of the Wildlife Conservation Act, 1972, (Amendment 2006) on 7 May 2013.