[2] Palanpur State was traversed by the main line of the Rajputana-Malwa Railway, and contained the British cantonment of Deesa.

Watered by the Saraswati river, the state was heavily forested in its northern end (the present-day Jessore Sanctuary) but undulating and open in the south and east.

Malik Khurram Khan Vihari (Bihari), the founder of the Palanpur house, left Bihar and entered the service of Vishaldev of Mandore during the late fourteenth century.

Appointed Governor of Songad or Jhalor, he took control of that place in the confusion that followed the death of the Mandore ruler';[citation needed] a forebear of the family is reputed to have wed the foster-sister of the Mughal emperor Akbar and received Palanpur and surrounding areas as dowry.

[citation needed] The rulers of Palanpur State belonged to the Lohani tribe (Hetani, Bihari Pathan) of Jalori dynasty.