Origin of the temple : Mallapur small village located in Honavar Taluk of Uttara Kannada District in Karnataka State. But it is very near from kumta [8KMs]. According to inscriptional evidence (erected in the compound of the temple). Mallinathapur was the original name of the village. It means Mallinathapuram is the place of a Lord Shiva temple. It was a Agrahara donated to 12 brahmin families. (Agrahara means grant of a land and royal income from it, typically by a king or a noble family for religious purposes, particularly to Brahmins to maintain temples in that land). At present God Mallinatha is worshiped in the form of Linga in the temple. There is one Hero stone and Nishadhi stone are found in the temple compound which belongs to the 12th century A.D. (It narrates Jaina Yatis Sallekhana Vrata) are the best evidences for the ancient glory of the Ganapati temple.
