Digital Rare Book:
Nilamata Puranam
By Ram Lal Kaniilal and Pandit Jagad-dhar Zadoo
Published by Motilal Banarsidass, Lahore - 1924

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The Nilamata is a Kashmiri Purana referred to by Kalhana as one of the sources of the ancient history of Kasmira. Buhler, whom goes the credit of saving its manuscripts, states on page 41 of his Report, "It great value lies therein that it is a real mine of information regarding the sacred places of Kashmir and their legends which are required to explain the Rajatarangini and that it shows how Kalhana has used his sources". But as a matter of fact the Nilamata gives besides, the account of sacred places, a lot of information about the Kasmiri way of living. The picture of ancient 'Kasmira' presented by its study is not complete and compact, still it is significant for its value which is supplementary to that of the Rajatarangini. While the Rajatarangini acquaints us with kings, queens and ministers of 'Kasmira', the Nilamata generally speaks of common men in their homes, streets, gardens and temples. The life of the common people, the food and drinks they took, the amusements they resorted to, the currents of religious thoughts they followed and the rites and ceremonies they performed throughout the year are described therein. If the Rajatarangini is important from the point of view of the political history of 'Kasmira', the Nilamata is no less important for the cultural history of that part of the country.

The Nilamata Purana describes the Valley’s origin from the waters; Ka (“water”) Shimir (“to desiccate”), hence, Kaashmir denotes “a land desiccated from water”. An alternate nominal origin theory proposes that Kaashmir is a contraction of either Kashyap-mira or Kashyapmir or Kashyapmeru, denoting the “sea of Kashyapa” and the “mountain of Kashyapa”, eponyms of Kashyapa, the sage credited with having drained the primordial Satisar lake that occupied the Kaashmir valley before he reclaimed it from the water. Considering the Valley an embodiment of the goddess Uma, the Nilamata Purana gives it the place-name Kaashmira, from which derives the contemporary Kashmir place-name. Nonetheless, the Kaashmiris colloquially use the place-name Kashir, which is phonetically derived from Kaashmir, as noted in the Aurel Stein introduction to the Rajatarangini metrical chronicle.

Source:
http://ikashmir.net/nilmatapurana/
http://kashmir4you.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/the-history-of-kashmir-kashmirforyou-archives/