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16. ON THE PRAKRIT SOURCES OF CERTAIN INDIAN
POPULAR TALE-TYPES AND TALE-MOTIFS
That Classical Indian literature is the richest and most fundamental source for the historical-comparative study of folk-tales is now a matter of common knowledge. Quite valuable work has been done so far in exploring Indian Classical works from this point of view. But scholars have little realized that there is a serious gap in their efforts in this area. As compared to the Sanskrit and Pāli sources on the one hand and the Modern Indian sources on the other, sufficient attention has not been paid to the Prakrit sources, in spite of the fact that the latter are probably the richest, and of immediate relevance to the Indian as well as the comparative folklorist. For many well-known taletypes and tale-motifs current in India and abroad, we find corresponding Prakrit versions that possess some unique historical singificance : either they are the earliest known versions (any Sanskrit version being unknown or clearly secondary), or they are closer and more akin in form and content to the Late Medieval and Modern versions as against the earlier Sanskrit versions. Here it is proposed to illustrate this point by discussing just a few of hundreds of interesting instances.
The tales discussed here are as follows:
1. The Magic Bird Heart (Type 567). 2. The Danced-out Shoes (Type 306). 3. What Should I Have Done (Type 1696, Motif J 2461). 4. Cinderella (Type 510). 5. Clever Retribution (Motif J 1160). 6. Candana. Malayāgiri. 7. The Patridge in the Cart (Motif of Clever Retorts : J 1511-17).1
1. The Magic Bird-Heart (Type 567)
The wide-spread tale of the wanderings and vicissitudes of fortune of two brothers called 'The Magic Bird-Heart' by the
