Agastya Mala, Mountain summit in Ambasamudram, India

Agastya Mala is a rounded granite summit in the Western Ghats, rising to 1,868 metres on the Kerala–Tamil Nadu border. Its bare grey dome, streaked with dark weathering and brown patches, narrows to a flat top where a small stone statue of the sage Agastya stands. Sparse vegetation clings to ledges, while dense forest covers the lower flanks.

Europeans, mainly from England, started the first tea gardens around the mountain's base at Brimore, Bonacaud and Ponmudi. The Scottish scientist John Allan Brown set up a small weather observation station on Agasthyarkoodam. In March 2016 the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve joined UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

Pilgrims visit the stone shrine at the summit to honor sage Agastya, a revered figure in Hindu tradition and Tamil literary history. The site serves as a place of spiritual devotion where visitors experience local religious customs firsthand.

The trek starts at Bonacaud, about 50 km from Thiruvananthapuram, and covers roughly 20 km over two days, with a night at the Athirumala base camp. The second day climbs about 3,600 ft to the summit, crossing into Tamil Nadu. Permits come from the Kerala Forest Department district office in Trivandrum, with about 100 trekkers allowed per day; the Neyyar and Kottur routes are closed.

The surrounding biosphere reserve hosts hundreds of bird species and numerous plant varieties that communities use in traditional Ayurvedic medicine. This region serves as a critical habitat for species found nowhere else in the world.