Within the Vedic tradition, the Yajurveda is understood less as the work of a single author and more as the crystallization of a long, priestly transmission. Modern scholarship generally situates its composition in the later or middle Vedic period, roughly between 1200 and 800 BCE, with particular emphasis on its formation after the Rigveda. These chronological estimates are approximate and rest on linguistic, ritual, and comparative analysis rather than on explicit traditional dating. What emerges from this timeframe is a text that stands at a pivotal moment in Vedic religious life, when sacrificial ritual had become highly systematized and required a specialized liturgical corpus.

Authorship, in the conventional literary sense, does not easily apply to the Yajurveda. Orthodox understanding regards it as apauruṣeya, “not of human origin,” revealed to ancient seers rather than composed by any single individual. Historically and ritually, it is attributed to multiple ṛṣis and priestly schools, each preserving and elaborating its own recension over generations. Different śākhās, or branches, are linked with distinct lineages of teachers and families of ritual specialists, so that the text reflects a cumulative, collective effort rather than a solitary voice.

This collective authorship is especially evident in the two major streams of the tradition. The Śukla (White) Yajurveda, preserved primarily in the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā, is traditionally associated with the sage Yājñavalkya, whose name becomes emblematic of a particular ritual and theological orientation. The Kṛṣṇa (Black) Yajurveda, on the other hand, survives in several Saṃhitās—such as the Taittirīya, Maitrāyaṇī, Kaṭha, and Kapiṣṭhala-Kaṭha—each tied to its own school and line of teachers. These branches together bear witness to a living ritual culture in which the spoken word, memorized and recited, served as the vehicle for both sacrificial precision and spiritual insight.

Seen in this light, the Yajurveda is less a static book and more a layered liturgical tapestry woven by generations of Vedic priests. Its prose formulas and ritual instructions embody the accumulated wisdom of those who specialized in sacrifice, preserving a vision of the sacred in which correct action, sound, and intention are inseparable. The historical period and diffuse authorship attributed to it thus point toward a tradition that understands revelation as unfolding through communities of practice, rather than through a single, isolated composer.