The historical beginnings of the Kularnava Tantra are, like those of many tantric scriptures, veiled in uncertainty. What can be said with some confidence is that it is a medieval work, regarded as a relatively late development within the tantric corpus. Scholars generally situate its composition between the 10th and 13th centuries of the Common Era, with particular emphasis on the 11th–12th centuries as the most likely period. This dating reflects the maturity of the Kaula system that the text presupposes, suggesting that it arises after earlier tantric streams had already taken recognizable shape.

In terms of its doctrinal and lineage setting, the Kularnava Tantra stands firmly within the Kaula tradition of Śākta-Śaiva Tantra. It is especially linked with the Kaula current associated with Kashmir Śaivism, where the Kula lineage and Trika system had become highly developed. The text is best understood as emerging from a milieu of Kaula practitioners who sought to crystallize and systematize teachings that had circulated in more fluid, often oral, forms. In this sense, it functions as a kind of codification of Kaula practice and vision, rather than as an isolated or purely innovative composition.

The work presents itself in the traditional tantric manner as a revelation in dialogue form, with Śiva as the guru and Pārvatī as the disciple, rather than as the product of a named human author. This literary framing underscores its claim to scriptural authority within the Kaula world, while also reflecting the way such teachings were transmitted—through an intimate guru–disciple relationship that the text itself carefully elaborates. Its emphasis on initiation, the role of the guru, and the disciplined unfolding of ritual and contemplative practice reveals a community intent on preserving and transmitting a sophisticated path.

Within the broader landscape of Tantra, the Kularnava Tantra belongs to the Dakṣiṇa, or “right-hand,” stream of Kaula practice. This orientation gives prominence to inner worship and symbolic understanding of ritual, rather than to overtly transgressive external acts. The text thus stands at a point where non-dual realization and structured ritual are woven together, reflecting a historical moment in which tantric traditions were being both preserved in their esoteric depth and articulated in a more systematic, accessible form for committed initiates.