The temple was constructed by the Chola rulers around 11th century in Mallam village near Nayudupeta, about 90 km away from Nellore. The Vasanta Mandapam in the temple is in the form of a chariot drawn by a pair of horses. The 64 pillars of the mandapam are decorated with pictures of creepers and tales from Ramayanam, Bharatham, Bhagavatam and Siva Puranam.
The Sthala Purana says, Lord Muruga killed a demon by name Mallasura at this very place and the demon prayed to the Lord asking to be forgiven and have the place named after him and so the place came to be known Mallam.
Another story does the rounds that the village was actually called “Thirugu Mallam” owing to the unique natural phenomenon where the water from nearby lakes would fill up the nearby fields whenever there were rains and return back to the lake, “thirugu mallam” in the local dialect of Telugu means “turn back”. How far this phenomenon is true, we do not know. For now, most of these regions would be grateful if the lakes had water in the first place !
Other legend says that
Since the demon was annihilated by Lord Subramanyaswamy at this shrine and in order to give heed to the prayers of the demon Mallam village, the shrine was named after the demon known as Mallasura. The episodes of Mallasura are painted recently on the mandapam ceilings.
The Pandya king Kullothunga Bhupathi took rest around this jungle region with his body-guards. His men spotted the nearby ant-hill surrounded with thick bamboo plants. The ant-hill was covering the idol of Lord Subramanya. The king wanted to cut the bamboo poles for his palanquin and instructed his men to cut the bamboo. When their sword cut the bamboo from its roots, they noticed blood oozing from the bush. The sword while cutting the bamboo sticks broke both the hands of the idol. On the same night Lord Subramanya appeared in the dream of Pandya king and instructed him to raise a temple at the same spot to install his idol at the prime sanctum. You may notice that the armless idol (prime deity) is half buried into the ground. Over the years the new idol came as a replacement to the old one. Thus the Mallam temple came into existence.
Even to this day, you can see the small idol of Subramanyeswara Swamy half above the ground, devoid of arms. This idol was worshipped for several centuries until a proper idol was installed in recent years. The new idol is now worshipped regularly while the ancient idol can be seen in a corner of the Sanctum. Except for this story of the Pandya king and some inscriptions dating back to 635 A.D, there is no historical record of the how the idol came to be found.
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