Malamalkkavu Sastha Temple or Malamal Ayyappankkavu is a famous temple dedicated to Lord Sastha located in Anakkara village near Thrittala in Palakkad district. A special flower called as Chengazhineer Poovu (a typical blue lotus) which is traditionally used for the daily ablutions is found and grown only in the temple pond of Malamalkkavu temple. According to mythologies, Lord Shiva gave Goddess Ganges(Ganga devi) this Chengazhineer flower and she keeps a garland made of this flower in her right hand. It is also believed that Lord Shani deva is sitting on a Blue Lily and hence worshiping the pond will help to cure ailments due to Shani Dosha. The myths about this legendary flower related with the temple was depicted in the Malayalam movie "Neelathamera".
The temple is not as the name suggests, situated atop a hill, but is located in a relatively lower region. This area is famous for its typical Thaayambaka, known as "Malamalkkavu Sampradaya", which is a typical style used in a traditional percussion concert performed in temple festivals. The legend, which the temple shares with many other temples across the state is that, many hundreds of years ago a Cherumi couple (a tribal village couple) chanced upon a divine rock while grazing the forest with their live-stock. The rock bled upon being struck with a sickle and thus its divinity was made apparent to all. Soon word went around about the discovery of a divine entity in the forest and the deity was formally consecrated in a specially made sanctum.
A small temple was established around the idol. Not much historic records exist to authenticate the antiquity of the temple but written records exist which prove that the temple is at least 300 years old. The temple is one of the 108 Lord Sastha temples in Kerala. Its main idol, Lord Sastha is facing east in the small srikovil. Other idols are of Bhagavathi and Shiva. Lord Shiva is also given importance in this temple.
The temple's Thalappoli festival, is celebrated on the last Saturday of the month of Dhanu. The temple was owned and managed by the family of Padinjarepattu Nambiar. The legendary temple pond is situated to the east of the temple premises.
According to the beliefs of the common folk, if one prays with full heart and places offerings at the feet of the Lord Sastha, the Chengazhineer flower, also known as Neelathamara, will bloom the very next day in the temple pond as a sign of God's blessing. Thiyattu Nambiars, who has the right to conduct the Thiyattu ceremony in Ayappan temples has a branch in Malamalkkavu, where they live in the vicinity of Malamalkkavu Temple.
Famous Malayalam writer and Jnanapith Award winner, Sri M.T. Vasudevan Nair was born in Koodallur and did his primary schooling from Malamalkkavu UP School. He is the author of the story based on which the movie 'Neelathamara' is conceived. Through his writing, this quiet hamlet has found fame in Kerala's literary imagination. Although M.T had written the flower as Neelathamara or Chengazhineer poovu according to the local beliefs, the actual Chengazhineerpoovu is the flower of Chengazhineerkizhangu (a tuber) belongs to the family of Indian Crocus(Kaempferia rotunda) and is not a water plant and Blue Lotus is actually not a water plant but the other name for Chengazhineer poovu. Generally, Blue Lotuses are not seen in Kerala waters but only Blue lilies. The actual chengazhineerpoovu is shown below.
During Mandala periods a lot of Sabarimala devotees throng this sacred destination and worship Malamalkkavu Ayyappa.
