They were, however, allowed to retain their estates; and though the rights of the last Raja of the race were purchased by Government in 1813, in consequence of his falling into arrears, the collateral branches of the family have extensive estates there still.

According to their own traditions (they have no trustworthy annals) they have not been many generations in Palamau.

They invaded that country from Rohtas, and with the aid of Rajput chiefs, the ancestors of the Thakurais of Ranka and Chainpur drove out and supplanted a Rajput Raja of the Raksel family, who retreated into Sarguja and established himself there.
"All the Cheros of note who assisted in the expedition obtained military service grants of land, which they still retain.

The Kharwars were then the people of most consideration in Palamau, and they allowed the Cheros to remain in peaceful possession of the hill tracts bordering on Sarguja.

It is popularly asserted that at the commencement of the Chero rule in Palamau they numbered twelve thousand families, and the Kharwars eighteen thousand; and if an individual of one or the other is asked to what tribe he belongs, he will say, not that he is a Chero or a Kharwar, but that he belongs to the twelve thousand or to the eighteen thousand, as the case may be.