[citation needed] 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).

[citation needed] The people with the surname Behal, Bahal, or Bahl in Punjab are direct descendants of the Bahlikas.

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

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).

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).

Bahlika and his grandson Bhurisravas were among the eleven distinguished Generals or Senapatis of the Kaurava army appointed by Duryodhana.

Besides the Kurus, the Madra (IAST: Mādra; IPA/Sanskrit: [maːdɽɐ]) were also originally from around Bahlika, as suggested by the Vamsa Brahmana[44] of the Sama Veda.

[51] 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, 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).

[53] 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.

[54] 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.

[55][56][57][58][59] 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.

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.