Bali (son of Sutapas)
Bali · bali, “the strong one”
Kaliṅga has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kaliṅga. Aṅga has other meanings too: see all meanings of Aṅga. Bali has other meanings too: see all meanings of Bali. Sutapas has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sutapas. Vaṅga has other meanings too: see all meanings of Vaṅga.
Bali, the son of Sutapas, was a king of the line of Pūru, a great yogī who ruled his kingdom bearing a golden quiver. He is not the daitya king Bali, son of Virocana, whom Bhagavān Vishṇu bound as Vāmana. Sūta tells the munis of him in the Brahma Purāṇa, in the account of Pūru’s line.
His line
Mahāmanas of Pūru‘s line had two sons, Uśīnara, the knower of dharma, and Titikshu of great strength, who became king of the eastern direction. Titikshu’s son was Ushadratha; his son was Phena; his son was Sutapas; and his son was Bali.
Bali took a human birth. He had a golden quiver and, being a great yogī, ruled the kingdom. On earth he begot five sons who upheld the line: Aṅga, Vaṅga, Suhma, Puṇḍra and Kaliṅga. Their succession became famous as a kshatriya vaṃśa (lineage) named Bāleya, and the Bāleya brāhmaṇas too upheld Bali’s line. The countries bear the names of Aṅga and his brothers and are famous by them. From Aṅga came the kings of the Aṅga country: Dadhivāhana, Diviratha, Dharmaratha, Citraratha, and Daśaratha, who was famed as Lomapāda.
Brahmā’s vara
Brahmā (Pitāmaha) was pleased with Bali and granted him a vara (boon) of these gifts, in order:
- great yoga-power;
- a lifespan of a full kalpa;
- knowledge of the true meaning of dharma;
- unequalled strength;
- invincibility in battle;
- pre-eminence in dharma;
- the sight of the three worlds;
- pre-eminence in progeny;
- the establishing of the four varṇas.
By this vara Bali attained supreme peace, and in the course of time he reached his own place, Pātāla.
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 13