Bauls are mystic minstrels from Bengal, in Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura, whose music mixes Sufi and Vaishnava devotion. Their songs celebrate a spiritual love for the divine in earthy, personal terms, and many Baul singers reject the divisions between religions. Bauls are a mixed group, with many Muslim and Hindu members and a number of named lineages. The word may come from a Sanskrit term meaning mad or agitated, or from a Sufi word, and scholars still debate it. The poet Lalon Shah, who lived in the 19th century, is their most celebrated saint. Each year the Jaydeb Mela in Kenduli draws Bauls from far away, and UNESCO listed the Baul tradition of Bangladesh in 2005.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.