Sage Vyāsa wears the crown as the “compiler par excellence,” traditionally credited with organizing eighteen mahāpūrāṇas alongside a host of upapurāṇas. In reality, these treasure-troves of myth and wisdom didn’t spring into being overnight. Like a vast tapestry stitched over generations, the Puranas evolved through countless storytellers, priests and regional scholars, each weaving in local legends, cosmological musings and moral guidance.

Scholars spot the earliest threads in fragments perhaps dating to around 300 BCE–200 CE, though most of the substantive layers emerged during the Gupta era (4th–6th centuries CE). From there, the narratives blossomed through the early medieval period (7th–10th centuries), reflecting shifting political landscapes and devotional currents—think the rise of bhakti movements championing Vishnu, Shiva or the Goddess. Far from fossilized texts, they continued expanding into the late medieval age (up to the 15th or even 16th century), picking up local color and fresh interpretations along the way.

Each Purana—be it the lush cosmology of the Bhāgavata, the martial spirit of the Vishnu or the fierce grace of the Devī—bears witness to communities shaping and reshaping their own spiritual maps. Modern digitization projects (like those at the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute) and university presses are now unearthing manuscripts from temple archives across India and Nepal, bringing lost variants back into circulation.

Rather than a single author’s opus, the Puranas stand as living dialogues—ever-morphing reflections of dharma, community memory and the cosmic dance of time.