The Iron Ring

The Iron Ring is a children’s fantasy novel published in 1997 by American author Lloyd Alexander. The story, heavily based on tales of Indian mythology, follows young King Tamar who leaves his palace to journey through a land of talking animals.

Tamar is the king of the fictional realm of Sundari. One morning, he is awoken by Jaya, a maharajah who seems oblivious to all rules of conduct and courtesy. He shows up at Tamar’s house uninvited and demands that Tamar humor him with a game of dice, increasing the wager with each roll. As the game escalates, Jaya decides that they should bet their lives. Tamar loses the round, which means that his fate is Jaya’s to decide. As a symbol of this, Jaya places a black iron ring on Tamar’s finger.

Tamar is woken by his mentor Rajaswami, who tells him that no one remembers Jaya’s visit or the game of dice. Tamar has no proof of its occurrence, aside from the iron ring that remains on his finger. Rajaswami and his other courtiers assure him that it was only a bad dream. However, Tamar feels bound to respect the debt that he owes to Jaya, out of principle as well as his own honor. For Tamar, dharma is the most important thing, and he does not want to compromise this by going back on his word.



He recruits Rajaswami to accompany him on his mission, leaving his kingdom in the hands of military commander Darshan. Tamar and Rajaswami head north, through the Danda-Vana forest. While they are passing through the woods, they encounter a giant talking monkey who is battling a large river snake. The monkey, whose name is Hashkat, is king of the monkeys, and he has attempted to steal the sapphire that rests atop the head of the snake prince Shesha. Tamar becomes involved in the brawl, wrestling Shesha in the water until he is dragged under, where he frees Shesha from the weeds in which he is entangled. Shesha continues to pull Tamar deeper underwater, until he is in the kingdom of Naga Raja, ruled over by the snake king. As a reward for his kindness and bravery, Tamar is given the choice of any of the precious jewels that sit in the king’s hall. Tamar chooses a small ruby called Fire Flower.

Tamar is then released to return to the surface. However, when he surfaces he finds that he is no longer in the part of the river where he had left Rajaswami. He is surrounded by a group of beautiful cowgirls called gopis, standing in front of them completely naked. Mirri, the most beautiful of the cowgirls, takes pity on Tamar and brings him some clothes. Tamar then learns about the village’s tradition of the Choosing, where the young men are to compete against one another to demonstrate their strength and skill in order to win the affections of a beautiful maiden. Mirri had decided not to participate in the event, but when Tamar arrives, she changes her mind, announcing that she will choose a man after all.

Rajaswami arrives and, reminding Tamar that he should never challenge a lesser opponent, the two decide to leave at first daylight; Tamar is not part of the Choosing. As they head back on the road through the forest, they reunite with Hashkat and are saved by Mirri when she discovers them stuck in the sap of a thornbush. Mirri joins the party and travels north.



They come across Ashwara, the exiled king of Ranapura. Ashwara tells the group how his cousin Nahusha has usurped the throne, exiling Ashwara and his brothers. Suddenly, a royal crier, Adi-Kavi emerges from an anthill and joins the party. They decide to travel north to Muktara to plead with King Bala, for intervention. Tamar declares that this mission is more important than his mission to Mahapura because treachery is a matter of supreme dishonor.

When the group arrives in Muktara, they find that Nahusha is already there. There is nearly a violent confrontation between Ashwara and Nahusha before Bala intervenes. Ultimately, Bala decides that he will take neither side in the struggle, giving neither military support to Nahusha nor protection to Ashwara.

They leave the city cautiously, as Bala has warned Ashwara that Nahusha will only be unable to harm him inside Muktara. They are charged by a large talking elephant named Arvati, who runs into them while fleeing from her captors. In order to save the elephant, they tie up Hashkat and paint him with mud. When the hunters arrive, the group claims that the elephant was actually a demon, luring them into a net trap to avoid being killed by the false demon.