Even Nila, son of Kashyap Rishi (grandson of Lord Brahma), under whose care Jalodabhava had been brought up, was thoroughly exasperated. Nila, therefore, sought help from his father, Kashyap, who approached the Trinity. As a result, Lord Vishnu decided to kill Jalodabhava. But the latter proved too clever. Knowing that he could not be killed under water, he took refuge in Satisar. Vishnu then decided to drain out the waters of Satisar in order to deny Jalodabhava an indestructible refuge. He directed his brother, Balbhadra, to cut the mountain towards the west of the lake near Khaddanyar in Varhamulla, present day Baramulla, which he did. Thereafter, as Nilmata Purana describes, "the water flowed out in violent rush with ferocity and great speed creating terrifying sound. It overflowed the tops of the mountains in huge waves literally touching the sky." With water having flowed and drained out, Jalodabhava had no secure place to hide himself in. He, therefore, played his last trick by resorting to magic. He created darkness all around to blind his detractors. Shiva now appeared on the scene. He removed the darkness, holding the sun and the moon in his hands. Jalodhabava's last gamble had failed. On being spotted he was beheaded by Lord Vishnu.

It is believed that on the onset of first Manvantra, the nine ancient Vedic rishis namely Kashyap, Maricha, Atri, Angira, Pulastya, Vishvamitra, Bhardwaja, Gautama and Jamdagni were the first to inhabit the new drained out land which came to be known as Kashyap Mar, meaning the abode of Kashyap. Over a long period of time, this name got corrupted to Kashmir, its present name. From the earliest times people from various countries have called it by different names, though all variants of the same name, Kashmir. The Greeks called it Kaspatyros or Kasperia; the Chinese called it Ki-pin, that included Gandhara too. Huen Tsang called it Kia-shl-mi-lo.

 

Even though a legend, the above-mentioned events are consistent with the principles of geological facts. The draining of the water from lakes is a common occurrence during a violent earthquake. Temporary darkness and re-emergence of light is a phenomenon that accompanies a particularly inclement phase of weather and cloud burst. Based on the valley's physical features, geologists believe that a major volcanic tremor occurred 100 million years ago, which opened the mountain wall at Baramulla, draining away the former great lake. The huge discharge of water must have flowed with terrifying speed washing away and submerging big towns and villages that came in its way.

 

It would, therefore, not be out of place to suggest that after bursting through the Kashmir mountains, the gushing waters from this Pleistocene lake, covering the entire valley, flowing at tremendous speed, entered the plains of Punjab and completely submerged the civilisations of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, in the process destroying all human life. This perhaps, could be the reason why Harappa and Mohenjo Daro civilisation disappeared. It is also being conjectured that most of the streams that fed Satisar also fed Saraswati River, with waters from the valley flowing in the southerly direction. However, once the cleft materialised at Baramulla, the water of Satisar flowed out in the opposite direction, leaving Saraswati basin dry. The geological evidence in Guryal ravine in the vicinity of Srinagar city indicates the possibility of Tsunami. Guryal ravine site is one of the world's richest fossil sites, being rated by geologists as the world's premier sites for the study of species from the Permian period (299-251 million years ago).

 

The drying of Saraswati resulted in Aryan Saraswat Brahmins, living on the banks of Saraswati, to disperse in various directions, with one large group entering Kashmir valley on the invitation of Nila, who followed his father's advice in the matter. Some historians have placed these events somewhere around the beginning of Saptrishi Samvat, 5084 years ago. The land now began to be inhabited by people other than the original inhabitants. This resulted in the intermingling of the Nagas, Peshachs and Saraswat Brahmins. With the passage of time these people came to be known as Bhatta in Kashmir. The word is derivative of the Sanskrit term Bhartri, which means doctor, scholar or intellectual. It is much later that they came to be called Kashmiri Pandits or the Aryan Saraswat Brahmins of Kashmir.