 For some years a tributary state and described as a "little kingdom", it became a zamindari under British rule from 1776 to 1947.Local tradition says that Vinayak Dev, a Rajput prince from Jammu whose family claimed descent from the mythical Suryavanshis, took over the Jeypore area of the Eastern Ghats in 1453.The region was hilly jungle, relatively unfertile and populated mostly by aboriginal tribal people.