Hiriya Kempe Gowda, well known as Kempe Gowda I, is a feudatory ruler under the Vijayanagara Empire.

The city of Bengaluru (Bangalore) is established by Kempe Gowda in 1537, as the capital of his erstwhile kingdom.

Bangalore is currently the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka.

Kempe Gowda is one of the well educated and successful rulers of his time.

Being a successor of Kempananje Gowda, the descendants of tghe Gowda lineage started as Yelahankanadu Prabhus (ruler of Yelhankanadu).The Yelahankanadu Prabhus were Gowdas or tillers of the land.

They belonged to the Morasu Vokkalu sect; their ancestors were migrants.

Fourth in succession from Rana Bhairave Gowda, founder of the dynasty of Avati Nadu Prabhus and great grandson of Jaya Gowda, who established a separate dynasty, is the famous Yelahanka Nadu Prabhus, Kempe Gowda I, who rules for forty-six years, commencing his reign from 1513.

Jaya Gowda accepts the sovereignty of the Vijayanagar emperor.

He later leaves Yelankanadu and is successful in planning and building Bengaluru Fort and Bengaluru Pete, the origins of the current city of Bengaluru.

He is also noted for his societal reforms and contribution to building temples and water reservoirs in Bengaluru.