Bahlikas

Bahlikas

Location of the Bahlikas in Bactria
Alternative names	Bahli, Balhika, Vahlika, Valhika, Bahlava, Bahlam, Bahlim, Bahlayana, Bahluva
Race	Eastern Iranian
Religion	Proto-Iranian and early Zoroastrianism
Language	Proto-Iranian later Avestan and Bactrian
Geographical range	Bactria
Period	Iron Age
Dates	c. 1500 – 400 BCE
Type site	Balkh
Major sites	Balkh
Followed by	Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
Cause of collapse	Conquered by Greeks (4th century BCE)
Defined by	Puranas, Atharvaveda, Mahabharata

The Bahlikas (; Bāhlika) were the inhabitants of a location called Bahlika (, located in Bactria), mentioned in the Atharvaveda, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Vartikka of Katyayana, Brhatsamhita, Amarkosha, and other ancient inscriptions. Other variations of Bahlika include Bahli, Balhika, Vahlika, Valhika, Bahlava, Bahlam/Bahlim, Bahlayana, and Bahluva.

Locations

Bahlika Kingdom alongside other locations of kingdoms and republics mentioned in the Indian epics or Bharata Khanda.

In Bahlika

According to the Bhuvanakosha section of the Puranas, Bahlika was a Janapada located in the Udichya (Uttarapatha) division.

Some hymns of the Atharvaveda invoke fever to go to the Gandharis, Mahavrsas (a tribe of Punjab), Mujavants, and, further off, to the Bahlikas. Mujavant is the name of a hill (and the people) located in the Hindukush/Pamir.

Atharvaveda-Parisista juxtaposes the Vedic Bahlikas with the Kambojas (i.e., Kamboja-Bahlika).

Besides the Atharvaveda Parisista, several other ancient texts also associate the Bahlikas with the Kambojas:

Shakah.Kamboja.Bahlika.Yavanah.Paradastatha.

Kritavarma tu sahitah KambojaivarBahlikaih.

VanayujanParvatiyanKamboj.Aratta.Bahlikan.

Kamboja.vishhaye jatair Bahlikaishcha hayottamaih.

The Kashmir recension of the ancient Ramayana contains the following reading:

Aratta.Kapisham.Balhim...

Sanskrit Acharya Kshmendra of Kashmir rendered the above text into his Ramayana Manjri as follows:

Aratta.Bahlika.Kamboja.

Besides Kambojas, the Atharvaveda-Parisista also associates the Vedic Bahlikas with the Sakas, Yavanas, and Tusharas (Saka-Yavana-Tukhara-Vahlikaishcha).

The fact that Puranic evidence locates the Bahlikas in Uttarapatha and further associates the Bahlikas with the Kambojas, Tusharas, Sakas, and Yavanas in the Atharvaveda Parisista and other ancient sources suggests that the Bahlikas were located as close neighbors to these groups. Since the Kambojas were located in Badakshan and Pamirs, the Tusharas to the north of Pamirs, and the Sakas on the river Jaxartes and beyond, the Bahlikas or Bahlams, as neighbors to these people, should be placed in Bactria.

The Brahmanda Purana attests that the river Chaksu (Oxus or Amu Darya) flowed through the land of Bahlavas (Bahlikas).

The Iron pillar of Delhi inscription by King Chandragupta II also mentions the Bahlikas as living on the west side of the Indus River (Sindhu). After crossing the seven mouths of the Indus, King Chandragupta is stated to have defeated the Bahlikas.

These references attest that the Bahlikas were originally located beyond the seven mouths of the Indus River in Bactria, where the land was watered by the Oxus River. However, later, a section of these people moved from Balkh to the Punjab, while others appear to have moved to southwestern India as neighbors to the Saurashtras and Abhiras of Sauviras.

In the plains of Punjab

Salya, the king of Madra mentioned in the Mahabharata, has been called a Bahlika Pungava (i.e., foremost among the Bahlikas).

Princess Madri from the Madra Royal Family is also referred to as Bahliki (i.e., a princess of the Bahlika clan).

In the digvijay expedition of Pandava Arjuna, there is a reference to a group called the Bahlikas, whom Arjuna had to fight. They are stated to have been located on the southern side of Kashmir as neighbors to the Ursa and Sinhapura kingdoms.

A passage in the Ramayana attests that on the way from Ayodhya to Kekaya, one had to pass through the country of Bahlikas, located somewhere in Punjab. This suggests that ancient Bahlikas had moved to and planted a settlement in Punjab. This is also verified in the epic Mahabharata.

This evidence suggests that there was another Bahlika country besides the one in Bactria.

Dr. P. E. Pargiter points out that there was another Bahlika settlement in the plains of Punjab, alongside or south of Madradesa.

In Saurashtra

A third settlement of the Bahlikas is attested in western India as neighbors to the Saurashtras. The Ramayana refers to (Saurashtrans.bahlikan.chandrachitranstathaivacha). A similar expression is found in the Padma Purana: (Surashtransa.bahlika.ssudrabhirastathaivacha). These ancient references indicate that the Bahlikas lived as neighbors to the Saurashtras and the Abhiras. According to the Puranas, a branch of these people ruled in the Vindhyas.

The Baraca of the Periplus is identified with the Bahlika of Sanskrit texts. The Puranas attest that a branch of the Bahlikas ruled near the Vindhyas.

Bahlika kings in legend

According to the Puranic traditions, Dhrshta was one of the nine sons of Manu. From him came a number of clans called Dharshtakas, who were considered Kshatriyas. According to the Shiva Purana, the Dharshtaka princes became rulers of Bahlika.

The Satapatha Brahmana mentions a king named Bahlika Pratipeya, whom it calls Kauravya (=Kaurava). It has been pointed out that this Kaurava king is identical with Bahlika Pratipeya of the Mahabharata.

According to the Mahabharata, the king of Bahlika was present at Syamantapanchaka in Kurukshetra on the occasion of a solar eclipse. The name 'Bahlika Desa' originates from the middle son of King Pratipa of Hastinapura, Vahlika, who abandoned his paternal kingdom to live with his maternal uncle in Bahlika, eventually inheriting the kingdom. Thus, being older than King Shantanu, Bahlika was the paternal uncle of Bhishma and predated him.

The people of Balhika presented to Yudhishthira as a tribute ten thousand asses (donkeys), numerous blankets of woolen texture, numerous skins of the Ranku deer, clothes made from jute and woven with threads spun by insects, and thousands of other clothes possessing the color of the lotus, soft sheep-skins, sharp and long swords and scimitars, hatchets, fine-edged battle-axes, perfumes, and gems of various kinds (2.50).

Darada, the king of Bahlika, was the incarnation of Asura Surya. At the time of his birth, the earth was cleaved because of his weight (1.67), (2.43).

The King of Bahlika presented to Yudhishtra a golden chariot yoked with four white Kamboja studs at the time of the Rajsuya ceremony (2.53.5).

Karna fought with and vanquished the Bahlikas, along with the Kambojas of Rajpura, the Amvashthas, the Videhas, the Gandharvas, the fierce Kiratas of the fastness of Himavat, the Utpalas, the Mekalas, the Paundras, the Kalingas, the Andhras, the Nishadas, and the Trigartas (7.4.5-6).

King Bahlika participated in the Kurukshetra War. The Mahabharata calls him a mighty (mahabali) king. Along with his son Somadatta and grandson Bhurisravas, King Bahlika participated in the Mahabharata war with one Akshauhini (division) army of Bahlika soldiers and sided with the Kauravas against the Pandavas. Bahlika and his grandson Bhurisravas were among the eleven distinguished Generals or Senapatis of the Kaurava army appointed by Duryodhana.

Remote Kurus-Bahlikas-Kambojas-Madras connection

The Ramayana seems to localize the Uttarakurus in Bahlika country. According to the text, Ila, son of Prajapati Karddama, king of Bahli (Bahlika) country, gave up Bahli in favor of his son Sasabindu and founded the city of Pratisthana in Madhyadesa. The princes of the Aila dynasty (which is also the dynasty of the Kurus) were called Karddameya. The Karddameyas obtained their names from the river Kardama in Persia and therefore, their homeland is identified with Bahlika or Bactria. This suggests that Bahlika or Bactria was the original home of the Kuru clans.

Vatsyayana in his Kamasutra records a peculiar custom prevalent among the Bahlikas, where several young men marry a single woman in Bahlika country and in Strirajya. It is said in the Mahabharata that the Pandava brothers (i.e., Kurus) were married to one woman, Draupadi. This suggests that the Kurus were originally from Bahlika, which was identified with Uttarakuru (Dr. M. R. Singh). Since Uttarakuru of the Aitareya Brahmana is said to lie beyond Himalaya, Bahlika or Bactria is also beyond the Hindukush (i.e., Himalayan range).

Besides the Kurus, the Madra (IAST: Mādra; IPA/Sanskrit: sa) were also originally from around Bahlika, as suggested by the Vamsa Brahmana of the Sama Veda. This text refers to one Madragara Shaungayani as a teacher of Aupamanyava Kamboja. Dr. Zimmer and the authors of the Vedic Index postulate a possible connection between the Iranian Uttaramadras and the Kambojas. Both these groups were close neighbors in the northwestern part of ancient India. According to Jean Przylusky, Bahlika (Balkh) was an Iranian settlement of the Madras, known as Bahlika-Uttaramadras.

In the Aitareya Brahmana, the Uttarakurus and Uttaramadras are stated to live beyond the Himalayas (paren himvantam).

This suggests that in remote antiquity (the Vedic age), the (Iranian settlement of) the Madras was located in parts of Bahlika (Bactria)—the western parts of the Oxus country. These Madras were, in fact, the Uttaramadras of the Aitareya Brahmana (VIII/14). However, in the 4th century BC, this Bahlika/Bactria came under Yavana/Greek political control, and the land began to be referenced as Bahlika-Yavana in some ancient Sanskrit texts.

Thus, the foregoing discussion suggests that the Uttarakurus, Uttaramadras, and Kambojas were all located beyond the Himalaya/Hindukush ranges. The Uttarakurus were likely in the northern parts of Bahlika, the Uttaramadras in the southern parts, and the Kambojas (=Parama Kambojas) to the east of Bahlika, in the Transoxiana region. The ancient Bahlika appears to have spanned a large expanse of territory. The commentator of the Harsha-Carita of Bana Bhatta also defines the Kambojas as Kambojah-Bahlika-Desajah, meaning the Kambojas originated in or belonged to Bahlika. Thus, it seems likely that in remote antiquity, the ancestors of the Uttarakurus, Uttaramadras, and Parama Kambojas were one people or closely allied and lived in or around Bahlika (Bactria).

Other references

Amarakosha makes references to the Saffron of Bahlika and Kashmira countries. Similar references to Bahlika saffron are also found in the 4th-century AD Raghuvamsa play by poet Kalidasa. Raghuvamsa states that saffron adhered to Raghu's horses, which they shed off by rolling on the banks of the Oxus before Raghu undertook to attack the forces of the Hunas and the Kambojas located on either side of the Oxus.

Brihat Samhita also references the Bahlikas and mentions them alongside Cinas, Gandharas, Sulikas, Paratas, Vaisyas, etc.

Kavyamimamsa by Rajshekhar (10th century AD) lists the Bahlikas with the Sakas, Tusharas, Vokanas, Hunas, Kambojas, Pahlavas, Tangana, Turukshas, etc., and states that they were tribes located in the Uttarapatha division.

The Buddhist play Mudrarakshas by Visakhadutta, as well as the Jain works Parishishtaparvan, refers to Chandragupta's alliance with a Himalayan king named Parvatka. This alliance provided Chandragupta with a composite army made up of the Yavanas, Kambojas, Sakas, Kiratas, Parasikas, and Bahlikas, as stated in Mudrarakshas.

The Sammoha Tantra speaks of the Tantric culture of foreign countries like Bahlika, Kirata, Bhota, Cina, Mahacina, Parasika, Airaka (Iraq), Kamboja, Huna, Yavana, Gandhara, and Nepal.

As mlechcha kings in Kali Yuga

The Bahlikas have been equated to Mlechchas in later Sanskrit literature. There is a distinct prophetic statement in the Mahabharata that the mlechcha kings of the Sakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, and Bahlikas, among others, will lead an adharmic rule in Kali Yuga. (3.188.34-36).

Bahlika horses

Bahlika horses in Mahabharata

Like Kamboja, the Bahlika region was famous for its horses, which were used by kings in wars.

• Vasudeva Krishna gave Arjuna hundreds of thousands of draft horses from the country of the Balhikas as part of his sister, Subhadra's dowry (1,223).
• Shikhandin's son Kshatradeva used steeds from Balhika in the Kurukshetra war (7,23).
• Bahlika breed horses were among those employed in the Kurukshetra war. Many steeds of the Vanayu, the hilly, the Kamboja, and the Balhika breeds, with tails, ears, and eyes motionless and fixed, possessed great speed, were well-trained, and ridden by accomplished warriors armed with swords and lances (7,34).
• Bhagiratha gave away a hundred thousand horses of the Balhika breed, all white of complexion, adorned with garlands of gold (13,103).
• Dhritarashtra wished to give sixteen cars made of gold, each drawn by four excellent and well-adorned steeds of uniform color and of the Bahlika breed, to Vasudeva Krishna, who came to talk to him on behalf of the Pandavas (5,86).

Bahlika horses in other references

The Brahmanda Purana refers to the horses from Bahlika. Similarly, the Valmiki Ramayana refers to the horses of Bahlika, Kamboja, and Vanayu countries as being of excellent breed. Upamitibhavaprapanchakatha singles out horses from Bahlika, Kamboja, and Turuksha as the best. The Abhidhanaratnamala also mentions examples of excellent horses from Bahlika, Persia, Kamboja, Vanayu, Sindhu, and the land bordering on Sindhu.