Aleph Book Company has announced the release of The Undead Ghoul and the Clever Raja: Twenty-five Tales of the Vetala Panchavimshati, a vivid and compelling retelling of one of India’s most enduring classics by acclaimed author and mythology expert Meena Arora Nayak.

Drawing from various ancient sources—including Shivadasa, Jambhaladatta, Somadeva’s Kathasaritsagara, and Lallu Lal’s Baital Pachisi—Nayak reimagines the legendary encounter between the wise King Vikramaditya and the cunning vetala, or ghoul, who inhabits a corpse suspended from a shisham tree.

This newly published work revives the classic frame-tale structure: the raja must deliver the corpse to the tantric yogi Kshantisheela, but each time he attempts to do so, the vetala halts him with a story—twenty-four riddling tales in all, each ending with a moral and a puzzle. If the raja knows the answer and stays silent, his head will shatter; if he answers, the vetala escapes—forcing the raja to start again. This clever duel of wits tests not just intelligence, but the nature of truth, justice, and morality.

At once eerie and enchanting, The Undead Ghoul and the Clever Raja is as much a classic horror anthology—featuring secret rituals, chilling deaths, and supernatural settings—as it is a deep philosophical inquiry. The stories delve into themes of love, sexuality, power, betrayal, human desire, and death, elevating the collection beyond folklore into a universal commentary on the human condition.

Meena Arora Nayak, a prolific author and former professor of English and Mythology, is no stranger to interpreting Indian classical texts for modern audiences. Her previous works include Evil in the Mahabharata, The Kathasaritsagara of Somadeva, and Adbhut: Marvellous Creatures of Indian Myth and Folklore. With The Undead Ghoul and the Clever Raja, she brings the rich storytelling tradition of the Vetala tales into the 21st century, in a form that is as thought-provoking as it is thrilling.

This latest release from Aleph Book Company is poised to captivate fans of mythology, horror, folklore, and literary fiction alike—ensuring that the ancient tales of the vetala live on in the minds of a new generation of readers.