This is an article, a well researched one, of my learned friend B.R.Gauthaman. The incisive questions asked by him based on the facts and recorded history, puts the claim of the church under a cloud of suspicion. The color quote by the church may wane when it rains. I have my thoughts and questions on the sainthood offer. I'll put them through shortly.
Now, here goes Gauthaman.
The fable of ‘Martyr’ Devasahayam Pillai: Church’s lies stand exposed – B.R. Gauthaman
The First Indian to become a Saint!
The Son of Soil becomes a Saint!
A great hullabaloo in the district of Kanyakumari!
As a
first step towards making a Saint out of one Devasahaayam Pillai, the
Pope declared him a ‘martyr’ on June 28, 2012. Frontline newspapers and
magazines carried this news item as the day’s headlines and celebrated
this announcement as if the whole world has been made holy.
Now what
is the ulterior motive behind the beatification? Do the so-called facts
rest on the solid foundations of history? Who becomes a ‘martyr’? Should
we not turn the spotlight on these questions?
A martyr
is none but a warrior, who enlists himself in the army of the Pope, who
reigns in Europe thousands of kilometers away from Kanyakumari; and this
‘valiant martyr’ thrives in the conquest and conversion of the
vanquished, in the process sacrifices his life. The 2nd-century Church
Father Tertullian wrote that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the
Church,” implying that the martyrs’ willing sacrifice of their lives
leads to the conversion of others.
As to the
question of motive behind this ‘supreme sacrifice’, and the motive
behind this beatification is verily religious conversion. This has been
further confirmed by Pope John Paul II and he does not stop with that.
He glorifies these ‘martyrs’ as “warriors conquering in the name of the
Vatican”.
“The
Church of the first millennium was born out of the blood of martyrs”, he
says and calls on the universal Church not to forget the legacy of
martyrs. He encourages taking up “these nameless, unknown soldiers as it
were of God’s great cause.”
What is to be noted here is the phrase – “nameless, unknown soldiers”.- To which army do these warriors belong to?
- For whose cause is this army waging war?
- Which nation is this marauding army conquering?
- Which culture is this army destroying?
- What is its motive?
The deeds of this army explain themselves. And to commit these very deeds alone the
religion resting on the persona of Jesus Christ became a hand maiden
for the ruthless army. Then the question arises about the role and
functions, and the very purpose of this religion.
A
religion is one, which elevates a person to a conscious state of his/her
humanness, and from there on raises humans to a state of Divinity.
There are no two opinions on this. If a religion were to adhere to the
above enunciated and accepted principle, then it deserves to called
religion. However if the core objective of this ‘religion’ is conquering
lands and nations, the question arises, what should people belonging to
this religion be called?
Furthermore,
in the process of conquering nations, when these marauders attempt to
convert the natives to Christianity through fraudulent means and threat,
and when the natives retaliate and kill some of these ‘warriors’, such
‘foreign legions’ who have been killed by the natives are those who are
glorified by the Church establishment as ‘martyrs’.
It is to
be remembered that this very same Pope John Paul II admitted shamelessly
on this soil, on the auspicious day of Deepavalli, “We converted Europe
in the first millennium; America in the second millennium; in the third
millennium, we shall plant the Cross in the whole of Asia”.
As
remarked by Father Tertullian, the Catholic Church requires ‘harvest of
souls’ and as a consequence, ‘martyrs’. To accomplish this task, the
Church is seriously involved in unearthing ‘martyrs’ in Kerala, Tamil
Nadu and North Sri Lanka. This fact has been admitted by the Kottar
Diocese in their website.
“A suitable
method for not forgetting the memory of the martyrs is to collect the
essential documentation of their heroic testimony and update
martyrologies”, believes Pope John Paul II.
The man
who was caught in this ‘holy excavation’ is none other than ‘our own
indigenous martyr’, Vedha-saatchi Devasahaayam Pillai. The history of
Devasahaayam Pillai has been enumerated thus in the websites of
Christian Assemblies:
Devasahaayam
Pillai was born Neelakantha Pillai in the year 1712 in the upper caste
Nair family. Subsequently, he served in the Padmanabhapuram Palace
belonging to the Thiruvithaangoor (Travancore) Princely State. It was
during this period that he is acquainted with the Dutch general of
Maarthaandavarma Raja, De Lannoy.
As a
consequence of this association, he was attracted towards Christianity.
In the year 1745, he was converted to Christianity by one Fr. Giovanni
Battista Buttari of Vadakkankulam Church. On becoming a Christian, he
adopted the name Devasahaayam Pillai and moved closely with the people
belonging to the lower castes and converted them to Christianity too.
Not able to tolerate these acts, the people belonging to the upper
castes like the Brahmins and Nairs, instigated the king and leveled a
spate of allegations upon him. Consequently, Devasahaayam Pillai was
arrested on February 23, 1749. Between the three years – 1749 and 1752,
Devasahaayam Pillai was put to untold tortures and finally at a place
called Kaathaadi Malai, on the Nagercoil-Tirunelveli road, near,
Aaralvaaimozhi he was shot dead on January the 14th by the soldiers of
king Maarthaandavarma Raja.
- Source: http://www.martyrdevasahayam.org & http://cbci.in/FullNews.aspx?ID=648 (Retrieved on 30.11.2012)
What is the purpose of excavating this history? The website of Kottar Diocese explains it thus:
The past 259
years have shown such a continuity of presence of the Servant of God in
the minds, piety, spirituality and prayer of the people of God in Tamil
Nadu, south Kerala and northern Sri Lanka that he cannot be counted as
one of “these nameless, unknown soldiers” in those areas. However,
bereft of recognition by the Church and official acceptance by the
authority in the Church, it is impossible to make such a meaningful
event bear fruit in the Church and society at large.
What is
the significance of the statement “to make such a meaningful event bear
fruit in the Church and society at large”? The import of this statement
is that Devasahaayam is a commodity, an instrument for the Church. The
Church itself has made it amply clear that there is no spiritual motive
behind this act, whatsoever.
If that be so, what are the areas in which this ‘commodity’ is to be utilized?
The
answer to the aforesaid query is readily answered herein: “a continuity
of presence of the Servant of God in the minds, piety, spirituality and
prayer of the people of God in Tamil Nadu, south Kerala and northern Sri
Lanka” leading to more religious conversion. (http://www.martyrdevasahayam.org/RELEVANCE-OF-MARTYRDOM.php)
But still
the big HOW remains? And more still, WHICH footprints of tradition is
the church scheming to destroy through the act of beatification? The
puzzle has been unraveled by the Christians themselves on December the
2nd, 2012 at Nagercoil, where the beatification of Devasahaayam Pillai
took place.
Cardinal
Angelo Amato agreed to designate January 14 as the day to celebrate
Devasahaayam Pillai Festival to mark the canonization of Devasahaayam
Pillai. The date January 14 is significant. Januray 14 is Pongal, the
joyous Hindu festival of harvest, celebrated with fervor in Tamil Nadu,
Northern Sri Lanka and South Kerala. The Makara Jyothi of Sabarimala
also appears on that day.
The website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) announces that Devasahaayam Pillai was murdered on January 14 or January 15. (http://cbci.in/FullNews.aspx?ID=648) (Retrieved
on 30.11.2012). The CBCI is keeping the date of the murder of the
“historic” Devasahayam Pillai conveniently open and flexible for only
one reason.
The
reason for this “seeming vagary” is that the Thamizh month of THAI is
sometimes born on January 15. The design behind this “seemingly innocent
vagary” is very apparent – to link the Christian Devasahayam Pillai
Festival to the Hindu festival Pongal so that Christians may celebrate
both. The ignoble motive being – to appropriate Pongal sometime in the
near future as also being a Christian festival.
This is typical Church modus operandi in Enculturation.
Many
Christian festivals have been so “created” in line with the festivals of
the local people. In the process, the reasons behind these festivals
and the cultural identities in the minds of the locals have all but been
annihilated, for which history bears testimony. By keeping the date of
the death of Devasahayam Pillai conveniently open, it is amply clear
that the ‘Devasahaayam Pillai Festival’ too has been craftily created by
the Church to destroy the ancient tradition of celebrating Pongal.
Religious
conversions notwithstanding, the website of Kottar Diocese clears all
vestiges of doubts, if any, about the political motives that lurk
behind.
During
the talk of Bl. John Paul II quoted above, delivered at Lourdes, he
spoke of “a new kind of religious persecution” spreading in the world
today. It is very true in India today. There is an anti-Christian
atmosphere being spread by Hindu fundamentalists, fully
supported by certain political outfits for their own political motives.
It is as if the Indian Church has already entered into “an era of
persecution.
- Source: http://www.martyrdevasahayam.org/RELEVANCE-OF-MARTYRDOM.php retreived on 30.11.2012
Not just
politics, Christianity dons many caps, adapting itself with the belief
systems of the local people in whose midst it plans to plant the church
and the cross. Inculturation, which means to fraudulently convert the
natives using their own native symbols, cultural and religious
practices, severing them from their native religious and cultural roots
and thus conspiring to bring them under the suzerainty of the Church.
This goal shall be achieved through the beatification of ‘martyr’
Devasahaayam Pillai, states the website of Kottar Diocese:
Another
point that makes this martyrdom relevant today is the role the laity
have to play in the mission of the Church Ad Gentes. The laity are not simply “belonging
to the Church”, indeed “they are the Church”. It is then only natural
that one speaks of the mission ad gentes of the Laity, because “The
Church on earth is by its very nature missionary” and the missionary activity of the Church flows immediately from the very nature of the Church.
People
may believe that such beatifications (that are designed for the very
purpose of religious conversions) may be based upon strong historical
foundations. More so, if such words like, ‘son of the soil’, ‘laity’ are
suitably woven in, then the people of the regions would be overwhelmed
and would never dream of investigating further to know the Truth. This
is a fact that the Church knows only too well. However, on research, we
stumble upon the fact that this fable of ‘son of the soil’ is contrary
to the truth.
Renowned historian Sridhara Menon in an interview to The Pioneer
dated 20.1.2004 asserts – “Leave alone execution, not even a single
case of persecution was recorded in the history of Travancore in the
name of religious conversion. It is a well-concocted story and a figment
of the imagination.”
M.G.S.
Narayanan, former Chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research
(ICHR), said that he had never come across any one named either
Neelakantan Pillai or Devasahayam Pillai as the army chief of Martanda
Varma in Kerala’ s history.
Shri Nagam
Aiyya, who recorded the history of Travancore princely state observes,
“It is one evidently started by the later converts, from a habit of
apotheosizing their ancestors or heroes; so common among the people.
(Travancore Manual Vol II page 129-130, M. Nagam Aiya)
These
fiction writers have gone to great lengths to establish that Christians
were tortured under the reign of the king of Travancore. On the
contrary, what does history offer evidence to?
The very
Maharaja of Travancore, who is said to have persecuted Devasahaayam
Pillai on account of Pillai converting to the Christian religion and for
converting others to Christianity, has in fact extended tax exemption for the lands that he gifted to the Church at Varappuzha. (Travancore Manual, Vol-I page 16, T.K.Veluppillai)
Devasahaayam
Pillai allegedly was drawn to Christianity by the Dutch general De
Lannoy, according to this church authored fable. “The Maharaja of
Travancore, Kaarthigai Thirunaal met the expense of building Udayagiri
church at the request of De Lannoy and granted a salary of 100 panams to
the Vicar“, records Shri. TK Velupillai, in the Travancore Manual, Vol-I, page 16.
Far from
being religious bigots, these kings may in fact even be termed foolish
for entrusting the administration of the Devoswom Board to Col. Munroe, a
European Christian.
It is
pertinent to recall here that in the times when Neelakantha Pillai
converted to Christianity, there were bloody and violent clashes between
Catholics and Protestants in Europe and in other parts of the world.
This
catholic-protestant internecine war had its echo in India too. On
capturing the Kochi Fort, the Holy Antonio Catholic Church where the
mortal remains of Vasco da Gama were interned after his death was
renamed ‘Holy Francis Protestant Church”. This Church is presently under
the control of the Protestant Church of South India (CSI).
The Dutch
Da Lannoy was a Protestant Christian. His Church at Udaygiri Fort was a
Protestant Church. Moreover, the Dutch in India were vested with the
right to authorize baptism of the newly converted. Under such
circumstances, why should De Lannoy send Neelakantha Pillai to a
Catholic denomination for baptism into Christianity? Besides, would it
not be ‘profitable’ to be baptized by the General of the Maharaja? What
benefit would accrue to the upper caste Neelakantha Pillai, were he to
be baptized by the Catholic Church, which had no political power then?
We have
to conclude therefore that those who fabricated the fiction called
“Devasahaayam Pillai”, had neither any knowledge of the socio-political
climate of the Travancore princely state, nor did they have any idea of
the then prevalent situation in Europe.
During the times of Maarthaanda Varma Maharaja, the army of Travancore had Izhavas, Christians and Muslims, records Shri. T.K. Velupillai in his Travancore Manual, Vol-IV, page 122, quoting Colonel Wilks.
Indian
Historians would naturally be biased in favour of the Hindus; hence it
is unacceptable to us, say the Christians but insist that the fiction
that the Church peddles as history is the ultimate truth.
Let us
take on their argument head on. Pope Clement XIV in his letter dated 2nd
July 1774, to the Maharaja of Travancore expresses “his kindness
towards the members of his Church resident in Travancore”. (Travancore Manual Vol-I, page 387, M. Nagam Aiya).
Is Pope
Clement XIV lying? Or is Pope John Paul II lying? Or Is the Kottaar
Diocese lying? Or is the incumbent pope, Pope Benedict lying? If the
king gave grants of land to the church, if there were Christians in the
king’s army, if the king entrusted the administration of the Devasvom to
a foreigner, who was also a Christian, these self-contradictory ‘facts’
by subsequent popes cannot all be true. So who really is lying?
For the
sake of the General De Lannoy who allegedly drew Devasahaayam Pillai to
Christianity, De Lannoy, the Maharaja of Travancore Maarthaanda Varma
waged war against the General of Anjango. Do you know the reason? De
Lannoy fell in love with the daughter of the General of Anjango! (Travancore Manual, Vol II, page 130, M. Nagam Aiya)
If the
fable, fiction and fraud scripted by the Church today to beatify
‘Martyr’ Devasahaayam Pillai is to be believed, then Maharaja,
Maarthaanda Varma, who gladly waged war for a lovelorn Da Lannoy,
ordered the torture and shooting this man whom Da Lannoy converted to
his faith.
In this
Christian fable, the minister Raamaiyyan Dalavai is said to have
disapproved of the close association of De Lannoy with Devasahaayam
Pillai and this is also purportedly one of the reasons for the anger of
Raamaaiyyan Dalavai against Devasahaayam Pillai. This closeness
aggravated Dalavai’s vengeance or so goes the fraudulent narrative of
the spin doctors fabricating the story of this ‘martyr’ who was tortured
to death by the Maharaja of Travancore.
It is
recorded by T.K.Velu Pillai in his Travancore manual Vol IV, page 77,
that capital punishment is awarded to crimes (1) inciting or committing
acts of insurrection, and pre-meditating or attempting the death
of the Raja, (2) Murder, (3) Gang robbery
Based on these observations, we have to view the history of Travancore as recorded by Shri Nagam Aiya.
“Probably
as a palace official, Nilakanda Pillai was detected tampering with
political secrets, on the strength of which action must have been taken
against him, years after he was converted to Christianity. Baptism could
not have had anything to do with it….” (Travancore Manual, Vol-II, page 130, M. Nagam Aiya)
This
fraudulent rendition of history does not stop with the religious
conversion of Devasahaayam Pillai; it flavors the narrative with a
contemporary caste-conflict human interest element. “Since, he mixed with the people of lower castes, the people of higher castes began hating him, hence he was killed“.
The Church has shamelessly inserted the caste factor into this fiction.
Needless to say there is not even an iota of historical evidence of
inter-caste conflict.
What is
the past record of the “secular and holy” Catholic Church? If we are to
understand the ‘yeoman service’ rendered by the Catholic Church to
eradicate untouchability, then we may have to turn to the order of Pope
Gregory XV, titled Bulla Romanae Sedis Antistitis, dated January
31, 1623, which accedes to the requests of the missionaries to
accommodate themselves to certain caste practices and usages of the new
converts.
This
papal bull was issued 120 years before Neelakantha Pillai converted to
Christianity. Until now, this proclamation has not been withdrawn or
modified. As a result, untouchability against dalit Christians and
segregation continues to rage with full force in Indian Churches till
date.
Even in
Vadakkan Kulam, where Devasahaayam Pillai is purported to have been
converted to Christianity, did not the Vellala Christians and other
caste Christians refuse to go to the same Church and when they did, did
they not sit separately? How did Christianity which proclaims loudly
that is against untouchability and caste itself, claim to have
eradicated casteism, and permit this to happen in the times of
Devasahaayam Pillai and in the very Church of Devasahaayam Pillai? How
can it explain the practice of untouchability and segregation in its
churches even today?
A
fictitious incident is given the colour of Truth, painted with the brush
of social reform and to this gigantic fraud, the Vatican has extended
its seal of approval and legitimacy.
Is it
valour, is it piety to destroy the tradition of a country and the
culture of its native populace by honoring these so-called warriors or
“martyrs” as the Church calls them, who in reality harvested the souls
of Hindus and betrayed the trust of the people who welcomed them and
allowed them to build their churches in their midst and generously
allowed them to practice an alien religion?
There is
no meaning in posing these queries to the Pope, his bishops, cardinals
and his foot-soldiers. In the process of establishing the rule of the
Pope, if a warrior of the Christian army dies, he becomes a martyr. The
same warrior, if he butchers the people of the conquered lands, he
becomes a “Saint”. This is the history of Christianity and this is how
Christianity expanded across continents and this is how Christianity
became global.
A House
of Inquisition should be established to torture those who refuse to
convert to Christianity in India, wrote St. Francis Xavier. For this
purpose, he wrote a letter to King John III in 1545 (Source: Joseph
Wicki, Documenta Indica,
Vol. IV, Rome, 1956) and by establishing the House of Inquisition at
Goa, Francis Xavier was instrumental in the genocide of the Hindus of
Goa. Today, this Francis Xavier is a Saint! In his name, there is a
Church at Kottaar in Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu! Besides, there
are many such churches in other parts of Tamil Nadu and North Sri Lanka!
Today,
this same Kottar Diocese has beatified Devasahaayam. Not surprising
because Kanyakumari has a very large Christian population and the man
who killed for Jesus Christ and in the name of the Pope has converted
significant numbers of Hindus in the coastal areas of Southern Tamil
Nadu too. For converting the few remaining Hindus, the fiction of this
Christian ‘warrior-cum-martyr’ who was tortured and killed by the
Maharaja of Travancore has now been scripted by the Church.
The
self-serving ungrateful Church, with this fraudulent rendition of
history has made a murderer of a noble and generous Hindu king and Hindu
society has been portrayed as a regressive society. The Hindus have
been painted as a barbaric race. Indeed, a fraud has been committed.
Weaving
such fiction and selling fables as facts is nothing new to the Church
and they are past masters in this craft. The fable of St. Thomas, who
supposedly landed on the shores of Mylapore Beach, in Chennai is one
such fable. This fictitious “Thomas” (doubt not) was created, was ‘made’
to stay at Chennai and was ‘made’ to be murdered by a Brahmin priest
and in an attempt to package the fiction as fact, the Church continues
to maintain that the skeletal remains of the ‘fictitious’ Thomas is
interned in the Santhome Basilica. Worshipping relics is a calculated
Abrahamic tactic.
Just like
the St. Thomas fairy tale is the Devasahaayam fairy tale. To put it
bluntly, the Church does not have a shred of evidence even for the
historicity of Jesus Christ. It does not matter to Hindus at all but to
Christians who dismiss the Hindu religion as myth and pass off their
religion as history, it should matter that they cannot prove the
historicity of Jesus Christ.
And that
is precisely the reason why, the present Pope observed that, Jesus
Christ may have been actually born 200 to 500 years before the
officially accepted date and year of his birth. If that be so, then the
fundamentals of Christianity are on shaky ‘historical’ foundation.
Secular
intellectuals and politicians should tell us if this beatification of
the Soldiers of Christ who want to conquer our land and reduce to rubble
the land of the Cheras, Cholas and the Pandyas is moral, ethical and in
the real interest of communal harmony.
A fraud is a fraud is a fraud.
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