Traditional understanding within the Hindu sacred literature holds that the Devi Bhagavata Purana was composed by the sage Veda Vyasa, also known as Krishna Dvaipayana, the same rishi to whom the Mahabharata and many other Puranas are ascribed. This attribution situates the text within the larger Purāṇic vision, where Vyasa is seen as the great compiler and arranger of scriptural wisdom. In that devotional and traditional frame, the Purana is not merely a human composition, but a channel through which the Divine Mother’s glory is revealed and systematized for seekers.

From a historical and scholarly perspective, however, the text is understood rather differently. Linguistic, textual, and theological analysis suggests that the Devi Bhagavata Purana took shape many centuries after the early epic period. Most academic estimates place its composition between about the 9th and 12th centuries of the Common Era, with some suggesting that the work may have continued to be compiled and redacted up to around the 13th or even 14th century. This points to a gradual crystallization of the text, reflecting evolving currents within the Shakta tradition over several generations.

The tension between the traditional attribution to Vyasa and the scholarly view of a later, layered composition can itself be spiritually suggestive. On one level, the name “Vyasa” functions as a symbol of the timeless seer through whom the Divine speaks, while on another level the historical process of composition reveals how devotion to the Divine Mother unfolded in concrete communities over time. Thus, while the precise human authors remain unknown, the Purana may be seen as a tapestry woven by many hands, yet unified by a single devotional intention: to extol the supreme reality as Devi, the Mother of the universe.