The Śabarimala Temple is a temple complex located at Sabarimala inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Perinad Village, Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, India. It is one of the largest annual pilgrimage sites in the world with an estimate of over 40 to 50 million devotees visiting every year. The temple is dedicated to a Hindu celibate deity Ayyappan also known as Dharma Shasta, who according to belief is the son of Shiva and Mohini, the feminine incarnation of Vishnu. The traditions of Sabarimala are a confluence of Shaivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism, and other Śramaṇa traditions .The temple complex also include a mosque of Vavar which was built to honour a muslim general who was devotee of Lord Ayyappan.According to tradition it is compulsary for every devotee to pray at mosque to proceed further.Many historians noted that Lord Ayyappan was known to people thousands years before beginning of islam and pointed that tradition of worship in mosque was added much later by muslim rulers of kerala to promote Islam in the area.