[2] It was in Sawyerpuram that he first encountered Christianity through his friends[1] and eventually was baptised an Anglican[3] in the St Thomas Church in Mylapore, Chennai.
Later in 1875, he was appointed as a Tamil pundit at Church Missionary Society (CMS) college at Tirunelveli.
[1] After his retirement, Krishnapillai aspired to write Tamil Christian classics[4] along the lines of Hindu epics.
He had read the Pilgrim's Progress even before his conversion and had planned to retell the story in Tamil verses.
He fell ill with malaria in 1879, and then, with encouragement from his friends, Krishnapillai decided to compile the work in an epic form similar to the Tamil Ramayana.
After 16 years, it was sent to print in 1894 and is considered one of the most significant Tamil poetry works of the nineteenth century.