also adds that most probably, Ahatalla died in Paris. Oath The treatment of Ahatalla, shocked the Thomas Christian community, and their wounded feelings effervesced into a mass upsurge that heralded the breaking off from the Padroado of the Portuguese Crown and the Jesuits. "In case the patriarch cannot be produced, he having been killed by the Paulists [Jesuits], let any other person of the four religious orders come here by order of the supreme pontiff, a man who knows Syriac, and can teach us in our offices, except the Paulists, whom we do not at all desire, because they are enemies of us and of the church of Rome; with that exception let anybody come, and we are ready to obey without hesitation." The Thomas Christians made one more attempt to reach some kind of compromise before proceeding to extreme measures. They wrote to Archbishop Garcia, requesting him to come and meet them but Garcia refused to accept the invitation. Seeing that the Archbishop thus turned a deaf ear to their insistent pleas, the Thomas Christians became extremely exasperated. On 3 January 1653, Archdeacon Thomas and representatives from the community assembled at St Mary's Church (Nossa Senhora da Vida) at Mattancherry to swear "never to submit to the Portuguese". Standing in front of a granite cross, the oath was read aloud with lighted candles, with the Archdeacon and the leading priests touching the Bible. The number of people who took part in the oath was so significant that all of them could not touch the cross at the same time. Therefore, they held on to ropes tied to the Cross in all directions. Because of the weight, it is said that the cross bent a little and so it is known as Oath of the bent cross (Coonen Kurisu Sathyam) After this historic oath, out of a population of 200,000 St. Thomas Christians, only 400 remained loyal to Archbishop Garcia. The event broke the 54-year-old Padroado supremacy of the Portuguese Crown over the Thomas Christians which was imposed at the Synod of Diamper in 1599. Various interpretations of the events The exact wordings of the Coonan Cross Oath is disputed. There are various versions on the wording of swearing. Secondary sources Stephen Neill Stephen Neill, a Scottish Anglican Protestant missionary and historian, in his book A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707 explains the situation as