This study examines the constriction geometry of a typologically rare 6-way place contrast in Malayalam nasals. This is done using static MRI data obtained from two speakers. The measures of tongue constriction angle (higher for more posterior places) and tongue constriction length (higher for laminals and dorsals) were found to provide a relatively good characterization of the contrast. Altogether, all pairs of consonants were statistically distinguished by a combination of these variables except for the dental vs. alveolar contrast (and two other pairs for one of the speakers). The nasal consonants were realized as apico-laminal dental /n̪ /, apical alveolar /n/, laminal alveolar or alveolopalatal /ɲ/, subapical palatal (retroflex) /ɳ/, fronted velar /ŋj/ and (plain) velar /ŋ/. This is largely consistent with previous phonetic descriptions of the sounds and earlier palatographic data available for coronals. Finally, the results for dental and retroflex nasals are compared to similar consonants in Kannada (another Dravidian language), pointing to potential language-particular differences in the realization of the contrast.