Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s2.85

v2.c4.s2.85

2. Balhika Prātipīya is the name of a Kuru king in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa,¹ where he appears as having been opposed to the restoration of Duṣṭaritu Paumṣāyana to his hereditary sovereignty over the Sṛñjayas, but as having failed to prevent the restoration being carried out by Revottaras Pātava Cākra Sthapati. The epithet Prātipīya is curious: if it connects him with Pratīpa (whose son he is in the Epic), the form is remarkable, Zimmer² indeed tacitly altering it to Prātīpīya. In the Epic and the Purāṇas³ he is in the form of Vāhlīka made a brother of Devāpi and Śantanu, and a son of Pratīpa. To base chronological conclusions on this⁴ would be utterly misleading, for the facts are that Devāpi was son of Ṛṣiṣeṇa and a priest, while Śantanu was a Kuru prince of unknown parentage, but not probably a son of Pratīpa, who seems to be a late figure in the Vedic age, later than Parikṣit, being his great-grandson in the Epic. Very possibly Balhika was a descendant of Pratīpa. Why he bore the name Balhika must remain uncertain, for there is no evidence of any sort regarding it.