Church of the Ascension is said to have been founded in the sixteenth century by St Francis Xavier to cater for converts largely drawn from the Paravar community. It is perhaps no accident that the church is built like a fortress, with heavy buttresses, a long tunnel-like porch under a defensible flat roof, and small windows set high in the walls. The interior is divided into different sections separated by arches. The altar lies under a cupola supported by Mughal-style cusped arches more typical of the Deccan than of a Christian building in the extreme south. Winding stair-cases lead to the upper rooms and a similarly complicated roof. Altogether this is a very odd church. This church is quite dark and all day filled by devotes who pray very intensively