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esteem. In fact this is done on the Western analogy of great/little traditon. In Indian context the desimārgi contrast in fact represents two different expressions of the same tradition. To give an example, if the story of King Oedipus by Aschylus is a representation of Great Tradition, then what will one say about this story from Indian Oral Tradition heard by Prof. Ramanujan.... If this is Little Tradition who cares for Great Traditions ?'.
In the story as given by Ramanujan in his Introduction referred to above, the mother, who has later on become a nun, swinging the child begot on her by her son-husband sings the following lullaby, 'Sleep, O Son, O grandson, O brother to my husband, sleep O sleep, sleep well.' :. Now that story is quite well-known in Jain literary tradition in numerous versions onwards from about the sixth century A.D. In the Jain tradition of Gujarat it is current even today as the instructive tale of eighteen-fold kinship relations (adhār nātarāni vārtā). A brief note on the early works which contain versions of this story is attached herewith. In most of the versions the instructive song (or lullaby) sung while rocking the cradle persists typically. In the earliest known Prakrit version we have it in prose form which is quite obviously secondary (to suit the accepted medium). In Hemacandra's ver
