The town of Jhalawar was founded by Rajput Jhala Zalim Singh, who was then the Dewan of Kota State (1791 AD). He established this township, then known as Chaoni Umedpura, as a cantonment. The municipality was then surrounded by dense forests and wild animals.
Jhala Zalim Singh came here often to hunt and liked the place so much that he wanted to develop it as a township. The purpose of developing this place as a military camp was because the Maratha invaders passed through this central place of Malwa towards Kota to conquer the Hadoti states.
Jhala Zalim Singh recognized the importance of this place and started developing it as a military cantonment and township so that he could use it to attack and stop the Maratha invaders before they could reach Kota State. Chaoni Umedpura was developed as a cantonment and municipality around 1803-04 AD. Colonel Todd, who visited the region in December 1821, described this area as the cantonment founded by Jhala Zalim Singh plus an established township with large houses, havelis and surrounding walls.
In 1838, the English rulers separated Jhalawar State from Kota State and handed it over to Jhala Madan Singh, grandson of Jhala Zalim Singh. He developed his administrative services to develop Jhalawar state. He lived in Jhalara Patan for a long time and started building the Garh Palace (1840-1845 AD). He was the first ruler of Jhalawar state and made important contributions to the history of Jhalawar. Jhala Madan Singh ruled Jhalawar from 1838 to 1845. After his death, Jhala Prithvi Singh became ruler of Jhalawar and ruled for about 30 years.
