Tribes in Ancient India c15.2

c15.2

Vāhlīka, Vālhīka and Valhīka are variant names of a people who lived in the northern division of India from very early times. A king of the tribe, Bālhīka Prātīpya, is referred to in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XII, 9, 3, 1-3 and 13), and is represented as having opposed the restoration of Duṣṭarītu, king of the Sṛñjayas (*Vedic Index*, II, pp. 470-1). Bālhīka (or Vāhlīka) Prātīpeya (or Prātipīya), son (or descendant) of this Pratīpa, as Pargiter points out (*A.I.H.T.*, p. 166, f.n. 2), is mentioned in the *Mahābhārata* (*Ādiparvan*, Chap. 95, verse 44; *Udyogaparvan*, Chap. 47, verse 6). In the *Sabhāparvan* (Chap. 27, verse 22), mention is made of Vālheka, which is evidently another name for Vāhlīka.