1745. At this point, he took the name "Devasahayam" ("help of God"), which is the translation into Malayalam of the name 'Lazarus.' Baptism On Devasahayam's acceptance of the Christian faith, he was baptized at the Roman Catholic sub-parish church at the Vadakkankulam village (in the present-day Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu), where the Jesuits had a mission under the Rev. Fr. R. Bouttari Italus S.J. Neelakanda Pillai, his name at birth, was then changed to "Lazar", although he is more widely known by the Tamil and Malayalam translation Devasahayam (meaning God's help). Pillai was married by this time to Bhargavi Ammal from Kunchu Veedu, Elanthavilai, Mayicode in Travancore State. She was baptised alongside her husband as a matter of course. She was given the baptismal name "Gnanapoo Ammaal" ("Flower of Knowledge", equivalent to Theresa in Tamil and Malayalam). Fearing reprisal in her native Travancore against her religious conversion, she chose to become a migrant-resident of Vadakkankulam village. Some other members of Devasahayam Pillai's immediate family also later received baptism. Orders based on accusations and charges Church chroniclers say that the Brahmin chief priest of the kingdom, the feudal lords, members of the royal household and the Nair community brought false charges on Devasahayam to the Dewan, Ramayyan Dalawa. The allegations were leaving Hinduism and stop following Hindu beliefs. Leaving Hinduism was a great offence because they wer Pillai was divested of his portfolio in the Travancore administration and was arrested. He remained in prison for three years, during which time the king of Travancore came under tremendous pressure from the Europeans seeking his release. Orders were finally passed for him to go into exile. He was initially ordered to be seated backward on a buffalo (a public humiliation) and paraded to the Kuzhumaikkad border, where he would be released and could enter into Dutch-controlled territory (or citadel/fortress used for trade and shipping). The original Royal order was later altered, and Devasahayam was taken on the back of a buffalo to Aralvaimozhy border (much closer to the capital, Padmanabhapuram), where he was tortured by ten different karyakkars (Royal officers), on the advice of the ministers, before being released into a mountainous forest area, on the other side of which was the kingdom of the Pandya kings, traditional rivals of Travancore. Other traditions and beliefs Devasahayam Pillai was marched from Padmanabhapuram Palace to Aralvaimozhy by soldiers, over the period of a few