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Christians, Chandala? 23. The same was the reaction of the Brahmins in the royal court. "Neelakanda! Have you lost your head to become a chandala?" shouts a Brahmin in the same drama. Chandala means the lowest and the meanest member of the graded Indian society. 24. His accusers before the king made pointed reference to the fact that Devasahayam though "living with such vile and infamous sect (the Christian community of low castes) dares to come to court and deal with such polished and noble people as the Brahmins; and for this he deserves death". 25. If De Lannoy decided to send Neelakanda Pillai to be baptized at Vadakkankulam in the Neman mission, it was not only because of the prevailing blanket ban on new conversions within Thiruvithancoor but also probably because he did not want his new convert (Devasahayam) to be identified with the lowest of the people of the region. Why was he not baptized in the Syrian Catholic Community 26) At the same time it was providential that De Lannoy did not send Neelakandan to be baptized into the Syrian Catholic communities which abounded in northern Thiruvithancoor, with which de Lannoy was quite familiar and which were affluent and widely respected by the larger society, supplying as it did, sizeable segment of soldiers to the king at the time of war. 27. Had Neelakanda Pillai been baptized into the Syrian Catholic community, he would not have met with the scorn and contempt which became his lot; the Brahmins and his companions in the royal court would not have hated him so much and wished for his death; he would not have experienced the suffering of Jesus and would not have become a martyr! 28. Devasahayam chose to be counted among the despised just as Jesus was. He no more accepted the division of human beings into high and low ones. All were equal for him. His heart, however went out to the poor and the low, to the suppressed and the despised. 29. This was his greatest offence which, it was feared by his opponents, would obliterate the privileges of the nobility and torpedo the unjust social order which for centuries had ensured the superiority of the Brahmins and the rulers. 30. The apologetic preoccupation of contemporary historians and even of some early drama composers had blinded them to this social dimension of Devasahayam's martyrdom. Eager to spread Christianity and not wanting to revive the memory of erstwhile confrontations with political powers, Catholic biographers, true to the prevailing spirit of individualistic spirituality, "downplayed the historical and social cause and issues connected with Devasahayam's conversion and martyrdom, and highlighted in abstract terms the suffering he went through".
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