Veera Ballala III

Veera Ballala III (1291–1343) was the last great king of the Hoysala Empire that ruled over what is now the South Indian state of Karnataka. Veera Ballala's commanders, Harihara (popularly known as Hakka) and Bukkaraya (popularly known as Bukka) are perhaps better known in Kannada folklore as the founders of the Vijayanagar Empire. He ruled during a time of tremendous political and cultural uncertainty, when all other major Hindu kingdoms of the Deccan and South India had fallen to the Muslim invasion from the north.