They were influential in the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire that reversed the territorial gains of Muslim rulers, after the invasions of the Deccan region first by Delhi Sultanate and later other Sultanates. Lingayats consider their scripture to be "Basava Purana", which was completed in 1369 during the reign of Vijayanagara ruler Bukka Raya I. Lingayat (Veerashaiva) thinkers rejected the custodial hold of Brahmins over the Vedas and the shastras, but they did not outright reject the Vedic knowledge. The 13th-century Telugu Virashaiva poet Palkuriki Somanatha, the author of the scripture of Lingayatism, for example asserted, "Virashaivism fully conformed to the Vedas and the shastras."