Though Ayyavazhi has not received official recognition, it has transformed itself into a distinctive religious phenomenon, making its presence felt in India's southern districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin. As one of the fastest growing religions of southern India, its rapid growth has been noted in the Christian missionary reports of the mid-19th century.
Ayyavazhi focuses on Ayya Vaikundar and according to Akilattirattu Ammanai the holy book of the religion, he was the Manu avatar of Trimurthi.
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Scriptures and holy places
The holy books of Ayyavazhi are the Akilattirattu Ammanai and the Arul Nool, and they are the source of the religion's mythology. To the Ayyavazhi devotees, there are five holy places, called Pathis, with "Panchappathis" being the greatest. The temple of Swamithoppepathi is the headquarters of the Ayyavazhi religion. Since all the Panchappathis were in the district of Kanyakumari, the district as a whole is considered as a sacred site by the nation-wide Ayyavazhi followers.
Symbol
The symbol of the Ayyavazhi religion is a lotus carrying a flame. The lotus represents the 1,008-petalled Sahasrara (in Tamil, Ladam ) and the flame represents the Aanma Jyothi or atman, sometimes translated as "soul" or "self".
Worship Centres
Pathis and Nizhal Thangals were centers of worship and religious learning established n different
parts of 
the country by devout followers of Ayyavazhi. They were
established even when Ayya Vaikundar bodily present, and they served as centres for propagation of the
belifs and practices of the religious phenomenon of Ayyavazhi. As a
whole there are more than 7000 worship centers throughout South India. Since Ayyavazhi is not a organised religion, Swamithoppepathi serves as head quarters of all only religiously but not officially.
Pathis
Pathis were the important centres of congregational worship, having relatively bigger structure like that of a temple. They obtain their significance from the fact that Ayya Vaikundar and his activities were historically associated with these centres of worship.They were five in number.
Nizhal Thangals
Nizhal Thangals were simple structures, not so bigger, buil for the purpose of worship, and for learning the teachings of Ayya Vaikundar. They served as centers of education during those days. Food and shelter were offered to the needy in these centers.
Beliefs
Ayyavazhi believes in both reincarnation and the Dharma Yukam but condemns the caste system advocated by many followers of Hinduism. It also rejects the use of murti in worship, but Ayya Vaikundar recognized the human need for an image to focus on and introduced a non-anthropomorphic symbol (see Nizhal Thangal). 
This practice is similar to that of other Hindu sects that use non-anthropomorphic symbols. Shaivism, for example, uses the linga as the symbol of God, while Vaishnavism uses the saligrama. Similarly in Ayyavazhi, the Elunetru which is placed in the Palliyarai, is considered a seat of God rather than God himself. The same is true of the Elunetru's alternative name, Asanam, which means "seat".
Ayyavazhi beliefs are closely related to those of Smartism and Advaita Vedanta. Hence, Ayyavazhi's followers believe that Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are different aspects of the same God. While some claimed that the beliefs of Akilattirattu are related to Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita, backing this up with quotations, Ayyavazhi endorses the concept of Ultimate Oneness.
Followers of Ayyavazhi differ from other Hindus in that they recognize a Satan-like figure, Kroni, who is the primordial manifestation of evil and who manifests in various forms (for example, Ravana and Duryodhana) in different ages or yugas. God, as Vishnu, becomes incarnate in his avatars, including Rama, Krishna and eventually Ayya Vaikundar, to destroy the foremost evil.
Kroni, the spirit of Kali Yuga, is said to be omnipresent in this age and this is one of the reasons why the followers of Ayyavazhi, like other Hindus, believe that the current yuga, Kali Yuga, is so degraded.
Charity is Ayyavazhi's main mission. One can see Anna Dharmam (offerings of food) in Ayyavazhi centres of worship at least once a month.
God
The theology of Ayyavazhi differs from other monistic religions. It says about Ekam, the ultimate Oneness 
from which, all
that which exists formed. It also says about a oneness exists behind
all differences. It says about Sivam and Sakthi and lesser Three God-heads, Sivan, Nathan and Thirumal. It also says about several lesser Gods. But in Kali Yukam due to the cruel nature of the Boons offered to Kaliyan, Thirumal cannot destroy the sixth fragment of Kroni directly so all God-heads were unified into the Ekam, and Ekam Incarnated in the world as Trinity (Ekam, Narayana and Human) to overcome the boons and to destroy Kali. Akilattirattu Ammanai also says about Dharma Yukam in which Vaikundar rules like a king. Since all were unified in Vaikundar, in Kali Yukam
Vaikundar was the Supreme Power and he was the only worshipable God. So
regarding this Ayyavazhi is also viewed as a monotheistic religion.
Dualism in Ayyavazhi
The Kroni the primordial manifestation of evil, was fragmented into six and each were destroyed in successive Yugas and finally the last, Kaliyan was shut down in hell after final judjement which leads to consider Ayyavazhi towards dualism. But Kaliyan was called as evil spirit, which came to the world. So it was mostly accepted that the destruction of maya (evil spirit) was symbolised in such a way. But the scripture most commonly says about Ultimate Oneness right from the beginning to the end. So the dualistic views were contrasted by the monistic narration. Also the contents of Arul Nool, based on the teachings of Vaikundar which were written by arulalarkal and Citars is completely monistic.
Pantheism and Panentheism
Though Ayyavazhi is mostly accepted with the concept of Ekam, some followers advocates Ayyavazhi as Pantheistic sticking to the concept Ekan (one who appears as oneness or Ekam in Tamil) which was used to refer God in Akilam seven. In this expression, the Akilam lays the groundwork for viewing Ayyavazhi as a panthestic faith. In a quote in Kappu, the very first part of Akilam one , the author of Akilam says, "By keeping us inside youself, please help us".
Regarding Panantheism there are many quotes in Akilam to suggest it but not as much as which reveal it as a monistic. For example, during the Vinchai, inside the sea, Narayana seeing Vaikundar says that "You are Sivan, you are Thirumal, you are Nathan, you are the Tapas, and you are the one who omnipresent in all which exists". And when Vaikundar was jailed in Thiruvananthapuram he alleviated the Santror by saying "I am the one who created the Ekam and the one who is omnipresent everywhere"- (Akilam 13:395).
Mythography
The mythology of Ayyavazhi makes explicit the fact that the essence of this vision is an account of a history - a past, a present and a future - ment by weaving together of empirical facts as well as mythical accounts. It unfolds around three axiomatic typologies, namely Santror, Kali Yukam and Dharma Yukam. It transverses through a past, a present, and a future in a teleological manner. The basic concepts give a symbolic vision which is at once religious and social.It was closely linked to that of Hinduism. The first part which says about the privious yugas and the advent of Kali, share some events with Hinduism. It shares many mythical characters, concepts etc. But many of them were regenerated in different form. The number of Yugas and Avatars differs from Ayyavazhi to Hinduism. The view on Kali is different and it was personified in Ayyavazhi, which was not found in Hinduism. Differentiating this, Akilam says that the true concepts were destroyed all so all privious scriptures had lost their substances due to the advent of Kali.
Then in the second part the book says about the God incarnating in the world in the Kali Yukam (the present age)inorder to destroy the evil spirit. God incarnates as Vaikundar and since Vaikundar lived as recently, he was well known in history. So the second part of the mythology many mythical as well as historical facts woven together. Most of the events were noted in history.
Rituals
In addition to the philosophical concepts and mythology, the rituals of Ayyavazhi proceed in it's own way. The ritual corpus of Ayyavazhi can be said to have conducted a socil discourse. The individual rituals and symbols, the unique features of worship, the ecstatic mode of religiosity, and the ritual healing - all these constitutive elements of the ritual corpusof Ayyavazhi contributed to the formation of an emancipatory ideation and a social discourse. It uplifts and treats religiously as well as sociologically, the subaltern people in a great way. The physical as well as spiritual cleanliness through Thuvayal Thavasu, ridding away the untouchability through Thottunamam, Self-respect and courage througe head gear, Unifying variouse castes through Muthirikkinaru were all examples of that.
New religious phenomenon
It may be concluded that Ayyavazhi emerged as a 'new and singular' religious phenomenon. Amidst the various traditions — the sanskritic Hinduism, the newly-introduced Christianity, the not-so-prominent Islam, and the ubiquitous folk forms of worship — Ayyavazhi was developing as a distinctively alternative religio-cultural form in South India, its place of origin.
This fact had been recognised by the followers of Ayyavazhi. They addressed their religion with a new nomenclature, "Ayya Vazhi" ("the path or way of Ayya") and thereby confirmed its new identity. They considered it, on the one hand, as ghee churned out of the existing religious traditions, and on the other, as a new phenomenon that had come to replace the old traditions. They believed, on the one hand, that Vaikundar had 'unified' all the existing deities unto himself, and, on the other, that the essence of the old traditions had gone awry with the advent of Vaikundar. They placed their religion within the existing traditions and yet perceived it to be different from them.
The distinguishing aspect of Ayyavazhi needs to be seen against the background of the sanskritic tradition whose pre-eminence was upheld by the State. That Ayyavazhi had emerged differently against this religious tradition is a pointer to its distinct singularity.
The emergence of Ayyavazhi needs to be seen also against the presence of the British in the country. From a sociological perspective, reform movements in general were patronised by the British in the nineteenth century Thiruvithankur. But Ayyavazhi was never patronised by the British; it arose and stabilised without their support. In one sense, it was anti-establishment, presenting itself to be new, both in terms of a difference and in terms of a synthetic character. It called itself new, as well as a medley of the extant traditions.
