who composed the original story of mahabharata in oral form
Mahabharata Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahābhārata is attributed to Vyāsa. There have been many attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be not much older than around 400 BCE, though the origins of the epic probably fall between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE.[2] The text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period (c. 4th century CE).[3] The title may be translated as "the great tale of the Bhārata dynasty". According to the Mahābhārata itself, the tale is extended from a shorter version of 24,000 verses called simply Bhārata.[4]
History of Hinduism After the Vedic period, between 500[12]-200[36] BCE and c. 300 CE,[12] at the beginning of the "Epic and Puranic" c.q. "Preclassical" period, the "Hindu synthesis" emerged,[12][36] which incorporated śramaṇic[36][37] and Buddhist influences[36][38] and the emerging bhakti tradition into the Brahmanical fold via the smriti literature.[39][36] This synthesis emerged under the pressure of the success of Buddhism and Jainism.[40] During the Gupta reign the first Puranas were written,[41][note 8] which were used to disseminate "mainstream religious ideology amongst pre-literate and tribal groups undergoing acculturation."[41] The resulting Puranic Hinduism differed markedly from the earlier Brahmanism of the Dharmaśāstras and the smritis.[41][note 9] Hinduism co-existed for several centuries with Buddhism,[42] to finally gain the upper hand at all levels in the 8th century.[43][web 1][note 10]