Sree Narayan Guru

Sri Narayana Guru, (c. 1856 – 20 September 1928), was a social reformer of India.He was born into a family of the Ezhava caste in an era when people from such communities were regarded as Avarna and faced much injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala. He led a reform movement in Kerala, rejected casteism, and promoted new values of spiritual freedom and social equality. He stressed the need for the spiritual and social uplift of the downtrodden by their own efforts through the establishment of temples and educational institutions. In the process, he denounced the superstitions that clouded the fundamental Hindu cultural convention of caste.
Sivagiri pilgrimage started in 1932.Narayana Guru stated the goals of the pilgrimage to be the promotion of education, cleanliness, devotion to God, organization, agriculture, trade, handicrafts, and technical training.Sivagiri is a pilgrimage centre in Varkala, India where the tomb of the social reformer Sri.Narayana Guru. The town is also the place where Guru believed himself to have become enlightened. His tomb attracts thousands of devotees every year during the Sivagiri Pilgrimage days, from 30 December to 1 January.