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formed most of the stories were taken bodily over from the existing folklore of North India.
12. Some progress has already been made in determining the relative age, at that time, of the stories. Those in the sixth and last volumes are both the longest and latest. Some of these were already selected for illustration on the bas-reliefs of the third century B.C.
13. All the Jātakas have verses attached to them. In a few instances these verses are in the framework, not in the stories themselves. Such stories, without the verses, have probably preserved the original form of the Indian folklore.
14. In a few instances, the verses, though in the stories, are in them only as a sort of chorus, and do not form part of the narrative. in these instances, also, a siinilar conclusion may be drawn.
15. The whole collection forms the inost reliable, the most complete, and the most ancient collection of folklore now extant in any literature in the world.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
