Veera Ballala III

Veera Ballala III
Penultimate Hoysala King
Reignc. 1292 – c. 1342 CE
PredecessorNarasimha III
SuccessorVeera Ballala IV
Died1343
DynastyHoysala
Hoysala Kings
Nripa Kama II1026–1047
Vinayaditya1047–1098
Ereyanga1098–1102
Veera Ballala I1102–1108
Vishnuvardhana1108–1152
Narasimha I1152–1173)
Veera Ballala II1173–1220
Vira Narasimha II1220–1235
Vira Someshwara1235–1263
Narasimha III1263–1292
Veera Ballala III1292–1343
Harihara Raya1342–1355

Veera Ballala III (r. 1292–1342) was the last great king of the Hoysala Empire.[1] During his rule, the northern and southern branches of the Hoysala empire (which included much of modern Karnataka and northern Tamil Nadu in India) were consolidated and administered from Halebidu (also known as Dwarasamudra). During his rule, he fought numerous wars with the Yadavas of Devagiri, the Pandyan Dynasty of Madurai and other minor dynasties of South India. But it was his conflict with the invading forces of Alauddin Khalji, and later those of Muhammad bin Tughluq, the Sultan of Delhi, that would alter the course of history of South India. For his courage and fortitude, the historians Suryanath Kamath, Chopra, Ravindran and Subrahmanian have called him a "great ruler".[2][3] With his death in c. 1343, South India saw the rise of a new Hindu empire, the Vijayanagara Empire. In the words of the historian Sen "the Hoysalas were the greatest among those who claim to be the makers of modern Mysore".[4] Harihara I and Bukka Raya I, the brothers who founded the Vijayanagara Empire had served the king in a military capacity.

  1. ^ Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. pp. 58–60. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
  2. ^ Kamath (1980), p.129
  3. ^ Chopra, Ravindran and Subrahmanian (2003), p.156
  4. ^ Sen (1999), p.500