Devasahayam Pillai
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Devasahayam Pillai was a Christian martyr of the 18th century, in the southern part of India. Born a Hindu in the erstwhile Travancore Kingdom, he rose to be a high official in the court of the Travancore king, Maharaja Marthanda Varma, during which time he came under the Christian influence of a former Dutch naval commander, Captain Eustance De lennoy, later to be martyred by the high caste Hindus in the Kingdom.
In 2004, the Catholic church in India recommended Devasahayam Pillai for the process of beatification to the Vatican.
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[edit] Early Life
Devasahayam Pillai (named Neelakanta Pillai at birth), was born into a high caste Nair family at Nattalam in the present-day Kanyakumari District of India, on the 23rd of April, 1712. His father hailed from Kayankulam, in present-day Kerala state and his mother from Thiruvattar town in Kanyakumari District. In the Nair matriarchal traditions of the day, Devasahayam Pillai was raised by his maternal uncle, and was inculcated with the strict Nair and Hindu beliefs and traditions early on.
Devasahayam’s family had much influence in the royal palace of Maharaja Marthanda Varma, king of Travancore, and Devasahayam went into the service of the royal palace as a young man. His capabilities and enthusiasm did not go unnoticed in the palace, as he was soon put in charge of state affairs under Ramayyan Pillai Dalawa, the Dewan of Travancore.
[edit] Conversion to Christianity
In 1741, Captain Eustance De Lennoy, a Dutch naval commander, was sent on command of a Dutch naval expedition by the Dutch East India Company to capture Colachel, a port under the control of Travancore, and establish a trading post there. In the battle (Battle of Colachel) that followed between the Travancore forces and De Lennoy’s men, the Travancore forces were able to defeat the Dutchmen ; Twenty four Dutchmen, including De lennoy and his assistant Donadi, were taken as prisoners, while the rest either retreated to their ships or were killed.
Captain De Lennoy and the Dutchmen were later released by the king, on condition that they serve in the Travancore army and train the forces on European lines, which the men agreed. Captain De Lennoy later earned the trust of the king and went on to become the commander of the Travancore armed forces, winning many-a-battle and annexing many adjoining territories of Travancore with the state.
It was during their influential roles under the King of Travancore that Devasahayam Pillai and De Lennoy became well acquainted. De Lennoy’s Christian faith interested Devasahayam and De Lenoy enlightened him on the faith, leading to his conversion.
[edit] Baptism
On Devasahayam’s acceptance of the Christian faith, he was baptised at the church at Vadakkankulam village (in the present Tirunelveli District of Tamilnadu), where the Jesuits had a mission. Devasahayam’s conversion to Christianity did not go well with his larger family or with the officials and Hindu high priests in the palace of Marthanda Varma, especially with the Dewan. Pillai was married by this time.
[edit] Accusations and Charges of Treason
Though there was a certain degree of religious tolerance in Travancore in the 18th century, the high caste Nair community strictly adhered to its caste codes, traditions and Hindu beliefs. Thus, any deviation was not tolerated. The Brahmin chief priest of the kingdom and members of the royal household and the Nair community brought false charges on Devasahayam to the Dewan, Ramayyan Dalawa. Devasahayam was divested of his portfolio in the administration and was later accused of treason and of divulging state secrets to rivals and Europeans. He was given time to redeem back to his old caste traditions and even put in prison, but he remained steadfast in his Christian convictions.
On the advice of the Hindu high priests, the king and his Dewan agreed to his banishment. He was ordered to be taken to the then state border at Aralvaimozhy, where he was to be banished.
[edit] Miracles on the way to Martyrdom
Devasahayam was marched all the way to Aralvaimozhy by soldiers, over the period of a few days. As was customary in those days, his body was painted with red and black spots, something reserved for very cruel criminals and was intentionally marched through populated areas, both as if it were a punishment to him and also to discourage future conversions among the high caste Hindus.
While halting at Puliyoorkurichi, not far away away from the Padmanabhapuram Palace of the Travancore king, it is believed by Christians that God quenched his thirst by letting water gush through a small hole on a rock, the very place where he knelt to pray. The water hole is still to be found in the compound of a church at Puliyoorkurichi, about 15 kms from Nagercoil.
It is also believed that the leaves of a neem (Margosa) tree in the village of Peruvilai, to which he had been tied while being marched to Aralvaimozhy, cured illnesses of sick people in the village and around. Many more miracles are attributed to Devasahayam Pillai.
[edit] Martyrdom
In 1752, the original order of the King and his Dewan was to deport him from Travancore, into the Pandya country, at Aralvaimozhy. He was let off in the forested hills near Aralvaimozhy. There, he is believed to have begun deep meditations, and the people from the adjacent villages began visiting the holy man. The Brahmins and the other high caste Hindus plotted to do away with Devasahayam Pillai, once and forever. They took the services of some of the soldiers posted in the area to do the job. Sensing danger to his life and also to his wife, he sent for his wife and asked her to take refuge at Vadakkankulam , across the border, in the Pandya country.
Locals still believe that the soldiers went up the forested hills and tried to shoot Devasahayam, but were unable to fire ; after which he took the gun in his hands, blessed it and gave it back to the soldiers to shoot him to death, if they wished to. The soldiers took the gun back and fired at him five times. Devasahayam Pillai attained martyrdom.
[edit] Relevant Places of Interest
Devasahyam Pillai is buried in the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier at Kottar in Nagercoil, the very place where St. Francis Xavier celebrated Mass and which had been his principal residence, while doing his missionary work in the southern part of India.
Devasahyam Pillai’s clothes and other belongings are kept in a church in the small town of Vadakkankulam, in Tirunelveli District of Tamilnadu State, India. They are exposed at the church on the 15th of August every year, the feast of Mary’s Assumption.
Puliyoorkurichi, where we find the water fountain which quenched the martyr’s thirst, is on the Nagercoil - Trivandrum highway.
Aralvaimozhy, where Devasahayam was martyred, is on the Nagercoil - Tirunelveli highway. At the very spot on the hillock at Aralvaimozhy where he attained martyrdom, one can hear bell-like sounds, when knocked with a hard object or stone. This miracle is something that is evident to this very day. Thousands visit the place every year.
