Origins of the Bhagavata Purana
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The 18 puranas as we have mentioned are written by Maharshi Vedavyasa at
the dawn of the present Kaliyuga. It mainly deals with the deeds of
Krishna Bhagawan who lived on earth shortly before that. Thus on the
surface, the Bhagavata Purana is a work of "history". But the first
chapter of the Purana tells an interesting thing. Originally the
Bhagavata was told by Shri Narayana Himself to Maharshi Narada. He then
told it to Maharshi Vyasa who wrote it down and taught it to his son
Shukadevaji who then narrated it to King Janamajeya. But thats not the
source of the Bhagavata either. What we call the Bhagavata was narrated
by Suta to Shaunaka and the other Rshis in Naimisharaya. Thus this work
even as it purports to be of a certain time is really outside of time. Or
rather it is authored anew with each telling. And this is true today as
well. The use of the term Vyasji for a reciter of Puranas (the origin of
my own surname) is because in a sense the kathakara is Vedavyasa. The
listeners are in fact, the Rshis. This is the sense in which we should
approach the study of this work.

The sattra of Maharshi Shaunaka
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Maharshi Shaunaka and 10,000 of his shishyas engaged in a 1,000 year
sattra in Naimisharanya. What is a sattra? A sattra (literally
"session") is a type of Vedic Srauta yajna which takes place over a number
of days. (three and upwards.) Every day during the sattra at sunrise,
noon, and sunset, a soma yajna takes place. In between, the shastras say
the yajamanas should listen to ancient stories. So naturally this is the
perfect time to listen to the Puranas.

Naimisharanya
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I'm a little hazy on geographic details but I believe Naimisharanya lies
in what is now the modern state of Haryana. According to the Vayu Purana,
once when the earth was troubled by demons, Brahmaji let loose a fiery
chakra or discus called Nemisha and where it ended up after destroying the
demons became a forest which therefore became known as Naimisharanya. The
Varaha Purana traces the etymology differently to the word nimisha (the
time it takes to blink.) Because doing tapa in the holy Naimisharanya will
give mukti in the blink of an eye.

Jaldhar Vyas

Cross Posted from Advaita-L