The Udāna first took shape in the decades immediately following the Buddha’s passing, as part of that remarkable effort to lock down his spoken words before they drifted away. According to the Theravāda tradition, a few months after the Buddha’s parinibbāna—usually placed in the mid-5th century BCE—an assembly of senior monks met in Rājagaha under the leadership of Mahākassapa. There, Ananda, renowned for his prodigious memory, recited the Buddha’s discourses, while Upali handled the monastic rules. In this big push to preserve the Dhamma, the collection of inspiring utterances known as the Udāna was woven into the Khuddaka Nikāya of the Sutta Piṭaka.

Centuries later, around 29 BCE, the entire Pāli Canon—including the Khuddaka Nikāya and thus the Udāna—was written down on palm leaves in Sri Lanka’s Alu Vihāra monastery. This momentous event marked the transition from oral tradition to a fixed text, ensuring that those pithy “inspirational verses” would survive even if memories faded.

So, in a nutshell:
• Compiler: The Buddha’s own disciples, under Mahākassapa’s guidance, with Ananda reciting the discourses.
• Time of compilation: Shortly after the Buddha’s death, mid-5th century BCE, and then inscribed on palm leaves around 29 BCE.

More than two millennia later, these verses still pop up in meditation apps, social-media wisdom feeds and scholarly debates alike—proof that those simple, powerful exclamations haven’t lost an ounce of their punch.