Veera Ballala III (r.1292–1342) was the last great king of the
Hoysala Empire. During his rule, the northern and southern branches of the Hoysala empire (which included much of modern Karnataka and northern Tamil Nadu) 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
Alla-ud-din Khilji, 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". With his death in c.1343, South India saw the raise 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".