One of the Pancha Narasimha Kshetras, the temple is located on the banks of the Krishna River, and was built in the 11th century by Anumala Machi Reddy, the king of Thangedu region after the deity appeared in his dream and instructed him to do so.

It is also popular for providing free food and accommodation to the devotees, serving more than 100,000 pilgrims on a daily basis, and is hence referred to as Annalayam (Temple of Rice).

The temple's committee is managed by the Chennuri family for generations, and is under administrative control of the Telangana State Government's Endowments Department.

[1] Per the local legend, the central icon is a swayambhu (self-manifested) idol of Narasimha, the half-man half-lion avatar of Vishnu, which was worshipped primarily by the sage Bharadvaja and other seers for hundreds of years in a cave;[2] it used to be their custom to visit the deity and seek blessings after bathing in the Krishna River, on whose banks the cave was situated.

The resultant crop yielded golden beans, half of which Machi Reddy donated to the poor and used the rest to build the village of Thangeda (also known as Thangedu), declaring himself as its ruler.

Machi Reddy then fell asleep; Narasimha again instructed him in his dream to follow the eagle perched on a bidi leaf tree before him, who will lead to the cave.

[4] Another legend states that a sage named Sri Keshava Teertha Yateendra built a hermitage there and worshipped Narasimha for around 20 years before Machi Reddy commenced the construction; until then, Mattapalli was a tough pilgrimage with people climbing the rocks using carts with fewer devotees visiting the deity.

When the Mughal forces tried to attack the temple, Giramma prayed to Narasimha, who apparently sent a swarm of countless bees onto the soldiers.

[9][7] The main shrine has two natural openings on the west and the north, and two hallways were later added to house the subsidiary deities of the temple.

[8] The deity wears a body armor made of silver and a mustache,[8] along with plated eyes and a Urdhva Pundra which help denote the facial features clearly.

[17] In front of the central deity, at a lower level, there are utsava (festival) idols of Narasimha and Lakshmi, as well as copper images of an anthropomorphic form of the Sudarshana Chakra and Nammalvar, one of the Alvars.

[3] The devotees who visit this temple pray to Narasimha mainly for improving their health, finding cure for life-threatening ailments and for warding away evil spirits.

[22] The temple follows the Vaikhanasa agama doctrine of worship, and the priests belong to the Sri Vaishnavaite community, a Brahmin sub-caste.

[25] Mattapalli is also one of the places in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states to host the Krishna Pushkaralu, a festival that normally occurs once in every 12 years, and special bathing ghats were constructed for the same in 2016.