The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s2.29

c5.s2.29

Bâlhika—1. The country between the Bias and the Sutlej, north of Kekaya (Râmâyaṇa, Ayodhyâ, ch. 78). The Trikâṇḍa-śesha mentions that Vâlhika and Trigarta were the names of the same country (see Trigarta). The Mahâbhârata (Karna Parva, ch. 44) says that the Vâlhikas lived on the west of the Ravi and Âpagâ rivers, i.e., in the district of Jhang (see Bâhika). The Madras, whose capital was Śâkala (Sangala of the Greeks), were also called Vâhikas. Bâhika is the corrupted form of this name. The inscription on the Delhi Iron Pillar mentions the Vâlhikas of Sindhu (JASB., 1838, p. 630). See Bâhika. 2. Balkh—the Bactriana of the Greeks—situated in Turkestan [Brihat saṃhitâ, ch. 18 and JASB., (1838) p. 630]. About 250 B.C., Theodotus or Diodotus, as he was called, the governor of Bactria, revolted against the Seleucid sovereign Antiochus Theos and declared himself king. The Græco-Bactrian dominion was overwhelmed entirely about 126 B.C. by the Yue-chi, a tribe of the Tartars (see Śakadvipa). Balkh was the capital of Bactria comprising modern Kabul, Khurasan, and Bukhara (James Prinsep's Indian Antiquities, vol. I). The palaces of Bactria were celebrated for their magnificence. Zoroaster lived at Bactria in the reign of Vitasa or Gustasp, a king of the Bactrian dynasty of Kâvja, between the sixth and tenth centuries B.C. According to Mr. Kunte, Zarathustra (Zoroaster) is a corruption of Zarat Tvastri or "Praiser of Tvastri," Tvastri being the chiseller and architect of the gods (Kunte's Vicissitudes of Aryan Civilization in India, p 55). From the Brahma Purâṇa (chs. 89 and 132), Tvaṣṭâ and Viśvakarmâ (the architect of the gods) appear to be identical, as well as their daughters Uṣâ and Saṃjñâ, the wife of the Sun. A few heaps of earth are pointed to as the site of ancient Bactria. It is called Um-ul-Bilad or the mother of cities and also Kubbet-ul-Islam (i.e. dome of Islam). It contained a celebrated fire-temple. For the history of the Bactrian kings, and the Græco-Bactrian alphabet, see JASB., IX (1840), pp. 449, 627, 733; for Bactrian coins, see JASB., X, (1842), p. 130.