The NIlamata Purana (नीलमत पुराण) is an ancient text (6th to 8th century AD) from Kashmir which contains information on its history, geography, religion, and folklore. It was used by Kalhana as one of sources of his history. The dating of the text is based on the following reasoning: "The textual study of the work shows that some alterations and additions have been made in it after the ninth or tenth century A.D. in order to incorporate into it the monistic Saiva Philosophy of Kasmira. Had the Nilamata been composed after the ninth century A.D. there would have been no scope for such change. The lower limit of the date thus may be eighth century A. D. and the upper one about the sixth century A.D. as Buddha began to be regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu from about 550 A.D."
According to the historian Ved Kumari: "If the Rajatarangini is important from the point of view of the political history of 'Kashmira', the Nilamata is no less important for the cultural history of that part of the country." Its critical edition was published in 1924. It is the national epic of Kashmir along with Rajatarangini encompassing modern day regions of modern day India, Pakistan Afghanistan, Khorasan, Tajikistan, Modern Dardic regions of world.
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