The mandrake is a Mediterranean plant with a thick, forked root that looks like a human body, and that resemblance helped make it one of the most storied plants in Western medicine. Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides described it in the first century CE as an anaesthetic for surgery, and Romans mixed it with wine as a sleeping draught. Medieval herbals spread the story that its shriek could kill anyone who uprooted it, so herbalists tied it to a hungry dog. Because the root was thought to resemble a person, it was used as a fertility charm and carried as a talisman. Fake roots carved from bryony were sold in Britain, where the plant was rare. In 1889 its active chemicals were identified, and once chemists could synthesise them, the folklore lost its place in pharmacy.

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.