The Royal lineage of Balrampur traces its ancestry to the great Pandava warrior, Arjuna. The great grandson of Arjuna, King Janmajay who ruled from the Pawagarh Fort in the Panchmahal area of eastern Gujarat named his principality after his great grand father calling it Arjanwara. Over time and centuries, the name got corrupted and the princpality begun to be known as Jaanwara. Thus when Janmajay's descendants shifted to the Himalayan areas of Terai close to Nainital, they came to be known as the Jaanwar Rajputs. Sometime during the reign of Mohammaad Bin Tughlaq (1325-1351), a young Bariar Shah, the 38th descendant of King Janmajay was awarded through a special firman issued by the Sultan for his heroic role in leading the suppressing a revolt that occurred in an area that is now a part of Uttarakhand. Large tracts of lands were granted and the title of Raja was restored. It was however more than a century later, under the rule of Raja Madho Singh that the name Balrampur finally came into the picture. The king acquired a new principality in Ramgarh Gauri and renamed the capital from Ramgarh to Balrampur after his son, Balaramdas Shah who laid his life in the battle of Ramgarh Gauri. Here on, the principality was known as Balrampur. In 1995, the current Maharaja, Dharmendra Singh decided to convert the Balrampur House, Nainital into Balrampur Hotel, Nainital - a heritage hotel.