Saudade is a Portuguese and Galician word for a melancholic, deeply nostalgic longing for someone or something that is loved but absent. It comes from a Latin root meaning solitude, and it often carries the sense that the object of longing may never be encountered again. It is less about sadness than a bittersweet recollection of experiences that once brought joy. The 16th-century writer Duarte Nunes Leão defined it as memory of something with a desire for it. In Brazil, a day of saudade is officially celebrated on 30 January, while it is not widely observed in Portugal.

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.