Jeypore, 'the city of victory' the capital of the taluk and the zamindari and the place of residence of the Mahárája, is a union of 6,689 inhabitants and is most picturesquely situated close under the western slopes of the 3,000 feet plateau, at the bottom of an irregular amphitheatre formed of its wooded spurs. The place consists of one wide street — some 25 yards broad and running north and south, along which stand all the public offices and some good private residences — and a few lanes on the western side of this. At the northern end of the street are the bungalows of Dr. J. Marsh, tutor to the Mahárája's son, of the Forest Officer of the estate, and of the members of the Schleswig-Holstein Lutheran Mission while at the southern end stand the Mahárája's palace, a large temple to Rámachandrasvámi facing it, and, beyond, in an extensive rose-garden, the new palace which was built about 1895 while the estate was under management during the present Mahárája's minority, but is now considered an unlucky residence and is used only as a guest-house.
Immediately west of the town is a great tank a mile long and half a mile wide, which never dries up and is kept as a sanctuary for wildfowl, large Hocks of which swim fearlessly about it. West of this again are extensive groves of ancient mangoes and from the circular road through these is obtained the fairest view of Jeypore -in the foreground the tank, reflecting every tint of the sky above it; behind, the steep wooded line of the higher plateau; and in the middle distance the town itself, almost hidden amid its numerous trees, with the white tops of the main gate of the palace rising above the mass of foliage.
Both the town and the palace have been immensely improved in late years. In 1855 the former was described as being ' a most wretched place, there being scarcely half a dozen tiled houses, and those of the most inferior description. . . . There is not an artisan in the place, save one carpenter, and he a Telugu man and not a native of the country.' The palace was then 'a paltry collection of tiled buildings in bad repair in a court-yard surrounded by a mud wall.'
Since the opening of the Pottangi ghát road and the roads to Naurangpur and to Bastar through Borigummaand Kótapád (see pp. 139 and 141), the town has risen in importance, as nearly all the produce of the 2,000 feet plateau passes through it on the way to the coast. In the busy part of the export season hundreds of carts enter and leave it every day. A Musalman has opened a tannery in it and others of the same faith have started shops where all sorts of commodities can be obtained. The daily market under
