The Balis

It is believed that the great theologian Rishi Prashar, grandson of Rishi Vashishtha and the guru of the Surya-vanshis, was the progenitor of the clan.

When the Balis first appeared on the scene is not clear but there are indications that their kith lived in great numbers in Multan before the dawn of the Christian era. Their ancestors under the pseudonyms of Bala, Kathi and Raos fought a savage war with Alexander the Great near Multan, in 326 BC. In one of the encounters he was struck by a powerful meter long arrow that pierced his coat of arms and lodged in his chest.

In the Mohyal histories published in Urdu by Hari Chand Vaid (1923) and by Chuni Lal Datt (1955) there is reference to the rule of Balis in Gujarat, lasting nearly 300 years. A galaxy of eleven kings is said to have held the throne with Vallabhipur as their capital. The link between the Balis and the ruling family of Vallabhipur in Saurashtra is not very clear but their Bali connection cannot be ruled out considering the popular belief that the Balis enjoyed a sort of supremacy in west Rajasthan and Sind at that time. There were many princely states of the Balis in Multan and bordering on Rajasthan, so it was possible that the royal families of Vallabhipur courted alliances with these Bali potentates. The Arabs overthrew Vallabhipur in 766 and the Balis migrated to Rajasthan and settled at Bally near Sirohi.

According to the chronicler Farishta, an Indian king named Bali attacked Kabul in 687AD and at that time the Brahmins ruled time the entire territory up to the Khyber Pass.

Mathura was the home of the Balis as it was to the Chhibbers.

Jhelum in Jammu State was the capital of the Balis for many generations.