Polo probably began as a simple game played by Iranian peoples, and its name comes from the Balti word for ball. It was called chovgan in the Iranian world, and it was a pastime in the courts of the Parthian and Sasanian empires. The Sasanian emperor Shapur II learnt to play at age seven in 316 CE. The Ayyubid and Mamluk elites of Egypt and the Levant favoured it above other sports, and Saladin was known as a skilled player. The game then reached Byzantium, Tang China and South Asia, and it was played in Manipur for centuries under formal rules. British tea planters started a club in Silchar, India, in 1859, and the 10th Hussars introduced it in England in 1869.

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.