Ikat is a weaving technique in which bundles of yarn are tied and dyed before they go on the loom, so the pattern exists before the cloth is woven. The name comes from a Malay word meaning to bind, but the method has flourished around the world for over a millennium, from Ecuador and Guatemala to Japan. In the nineteenth century, Bukhara, a Timurid city in modern Uzbekistan on the old Silk Road, was a major centre of ikat production, and its textiles were prized for their blurred, jagged colour. After the Russian Revolution, workshops were moved into state factories, handlooms gave way to machines, and many fabrics labelled as ikat were in fact printed. Today fast-fashion labels sell cheap 'ikat prints' that imitate the real craft.

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.