Ayyavazhi took shape in the 19th century in the deep south of the Indian subcontinent, in a landscape already saturated with rich Hindu devotional currents. Its emergence is closely tied to the mid-19th century, with a particularly significant period spanning roughly from the 1830s to the 1850s. Rather than appearing abruptly, it unfolded gradually as a distinct monistic stream within the broader religious milieu of the time. This temporal setting is essential, for it situates Ayyavazhi amid intense social and spiritual ferment in South India.

Geographically, Ayyavazhi is rooted in the southern reaches of what is now Tamil Nadu, especially the region around Kanyakumari. This area, at the southern tip of the subcontinent, served as the primary cradle in which its teachings and practices crystallized. The movement also extended into adjoining territories that are now part of Kerala, reflecting the porous cultural and religious boundaries of that era. Thus, its heartland may be described as the Kanyakumari region and neighboring parts of southern Travancore, encompassing both present-day Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Within this setting, Ayyavazhi arose as a distinctive religious current flowing out of existing Hindu traditions, yet gradually acquiring its own identity and coherence. The combination of time and place—19th-century South India, centered on Kanyakumari and nearby regions—provided the soil in which its monistic vision could take root. To understand Ayyavazhi is therefore to attend carefully to this specific historical and regional context, where inherited forms of worship and emerging aspirations for renewal met and gave rise to a new spiritual path.