It turns out that the Conquistadors, after invading and defeating the indigenous Inca habitats in the country, started converting them to Catholic Christianity. One of the popular cuisines of the region throughout the history was “grilled guinea pig”. In order to be friendly to the locals as well as make the conversion process easier, the church officials at the time took the liberty of commissioning the painting with the deliberate choice of portraying the last meal of Christ, before his crucifixion, a grilled guinea pig.
Suddenly Ron remembered witnessing a similarly-themed painting on the inside roof of a church in Cochin in Southern India, once occupied in mid-sixteenth century by the Portuguese. In that painting, the guinea pig was replaced by a ripe juicy yellow mango, the favorite summer fruit of the locals.
And throughout the centuries, both paintings stayed in their original forms with no attempt to modify their contents. In a way, it made sense, whether it was intended or not. That painted grilled guinea pig and the ripe mango became historic witnesses to the forced religious conversion of the defeated by the winner in the flow of the river of civilization.