Aryankavu Sastha Temple - Major pilgrimage centre in Kollam

Located closer to the famous Palaruvi waterfalls, Aryankavu is one of the major pilgrimage centres in Kollam. The name of the place came from the mix of words Aryan (lord Ayyappa) and Kavu (holy forest). Lord Parasurama set up five temples committed to Goddess Kali in the beach front area and five Sastha temples in the slopes for the wellbeing of Kerala. Aryankavu Sastha Temple is one of the temples on the hilly terrain of the Western Ghats, bordered by Tamil Nadu state. The unique feature of the temple is that it is built about 35 feet below the road level and has some fine structure and mural paintings. Ayyappa is delineated as a young man sitting on an elephant with his right leg hanging and left leg being in a collapsed position. As in Sabarimala, the temple too has 18 stages to reach the shrine. In prior days, the Saurashtrians used to sell dresses to the Travancore ruler.

One such specialist went to offer silk dresses to Travancore with his virgin little girl. On his way, he reached Aryankavu by night, so he needed to stay there. The next morning in the wake of freshen up, the little girl asked for him that she needed to remain back here and continue appealing to the lord Ayyappan. She was awed by the lord and committed to him. The general population of the place likewise recommended not to bring his little girl with, as it was a thick woods adventure and they guaranteed to deal with the young lady. So, women from 10 to 50 age gatherings were denied entry to the temple. Since the idol was believed to be installed by Pandyan kings, the rituals followed here are that of Tamil tradition.