Ravan's TrialTHE NARAKA CYCLE
Cover of The Naraka Cycle, Book One: Ravan's Trial, Young Readers Edition. A boy in a teal shirt and saffron trousers draws a bow at a roaring black panther in a misty jungle, with a sword at his hip. Gold title lettering sits inside a dark red ornamental border, and the author name Sundar Nathan appears at the bottom.

The Naraka Cycle · Book OneRavan's TrialYoung Readers Edition

Ravan's Trial is Book One of The Naraka Cycle, Sundar Nathan's Indian-mythology fantasy adventure. The Young Readers Edition follows a fifteen-year-old prince into the jungle of Naraka and is written for ages 9 to 13.

Seven days. One jungle.
Everything bites.

Ages 9 to 13Indian mythologyEpic fantasy adventure
Buy the Young Readers Edition Read Chapter 1 free

“The story is gripping, familiar characters in new roles with new destinies.”

Viswanathan Anand, five-time World Chess Champion

The story

A prince. A monster. A secret the gods can't afford.

Fifteen-year-old Ravan, crown prince of Asurapura, has to survive the Trial of Seven Days alone in the Aranya, a jungle where pretty much everything wants to eat him.

Then he rescues a hungry, very bitey sharabha cub named Laddoo, and his Trial gets a lot more complicated.

Back home, his fearless little sister Surpanakha has a daring plan of her own, and the Devas who rule Naraka are taking its people away in chains. Ravan is about to find out that being a prince was never really the test.

Step into Naraka

Explore the world of the book

The political map of Naraka

The interactive map

Tap a kingdom to see who rules it, who lives there and which chapters happen there.

 Ravan, fifteen, drawing his bow in the jungle, with two bronze khukris crossed on his back

Meet the characters

Hear every name said out loud. A spoiler slider keeps later surprises hidden.

Which Naraka hero are you?

Eight questions. One hero. A result card you can download and share.

Myth vs. Story

How the book's Ravan, Surpanakha and Kumbhakarn compare with the Ramayana you may know.

Read a free sample

The Prologue and Chapter 1, “Never Interrupt a Monster's Lunch.”

Teachers & librarians

Discussion questions, vocabulary, a printable glossary and school-visit requests.

Where the stories began

Told first by a grandmother

When Sundar Nathan was a boy in India, his grandmother Namagiri and his mother Saroja told him stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, full of heroes, demons and magical creatures. Ravan's Trial takes some of those famous names and gives them new roles and new destinies.

Compare myth and storyAbout the author

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