SAGE VED VYAS AND ROLE IN HINDU LITERATURE

Vyasa (Sanskrit: व्यास, vyāsa, literally “Compiler”) is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyāsa (the one who classified the Vedas") He is the author of the Mahabharata, as well as a character in it. He is considered to be the scribe of both the Vedas and Puranas. According to Hindu beliefs, Vyasa is an avatar of the god Vishnu. Vyasa is also considered to be one of the seven Chiranjivins (long lived, or immortals), who are still in existence according to Hindu belief.

Vyasa lived around the 3rd millennium BCE. The festival of Guru Purnima is dedicated to him. It is also known as Vyasa Purnima, for it is the day believed to be both his birthday and the day he divided the Vedas.Hindus traditionally hold that Vyasa categorised the primordial single Veda into three canonical collections, and that the fourth one, known as Atharvaveda, was recognized as Veda only very much later. Hence he was called Veda Vyasa, or "Splitter of the Vedas," the splitting being a feat that allowed people to understand the divine knowledge of the Veda. The word vyasa means split, differentiate, or describe.Vyasa is traditionally known as author of this epic and likewise features as an important character in it. His mother Satyavati later married King Shantanu of Hastinapura and had two sons, Chitrāngada and Vichitravirya. Chittrangada died unmarried and Vichitravirya died without issue, and hence their mother asked Vyasa to father the child through the "Niyoga" method which specifies rules for appointing a father to bear a child in case the husband is incapacitated or unable to do so.

Vyasa fathers the princes Dhritarashtra and Pandu by Ambika and Ambalika

Vyasa narrated the entire Mahābhārata and all the Upanishads and the 18 Puranas, while Lord Ganesha wrote.Vyasa is supposed to have meditated and authored the epic by the foothills of the river Beas (Vipasa) in the Punjab region.Vyasa is also credited with the writing of the eighteen major Purāṇas. His son Shuka is the narrator of the major Purāṇa Bhagavat-Purāṇa. The Yoga Bhashya, a commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, is attributed to Vyasa.

Ref: Wikipedia and literature available