Sabarimala is a famous pilgrimage centre of Hindus situated in the heights of the mountain range of the Western Ghats. The deity worshiped here is Ayyappan who by the legends, meditated here after destroying the demon named Mahishi.

The temple is located amidst eighteen hills of the Western Ghats at an elevation of 914m above sea level. The temple is surrounded by a serene peace being located in the midst of mountains and dense forests. Almost all the surrounding hills have either currently worshiped temples or remnants of old temples showing that historically this place was considered holy.

Sabarimala has a huge turnout of about forty five to fifty million devotees conducting the annual pilgrimage. The temple is open to every male of any caste or religion unlike many temples in Kerala where non-Hindus are prohibited from entering the temple premises. But at Sabarimala, females between the ages of 10 to 50 are prohibited from entering the premises.

For the annual pilgrimage, the devotees follow a special penance of 41 days before being eligible to make the pilgrimage. Devotees should eat only vegetarian food, avoid smoking, alcohol and should not have a hair cut or shave. Devotees under the penance will only wear traditional cloths which are colored plain black, blue or saffron

The path to the pilgrimage center is hilly and the devotees have to trek to reach the holy temple. Message bestowed on the devotees is the Sanskrit phrase, "Tat Tvam Asi"; which means 'God is in you'.