THE
TIGER KING BY KALKI
The tiger king is a story of eccentric kings
dominating their subjects but living under the moral fear of the Britishers.
The author has given a tinge of the supernatural interspersed in the story.
Arrogant Tiger King desired to disprove the prophecy of the astrologer, but
destiny proved to be powerful and the prediction which was made when the king
was ten days old comes out to be true.
v The Maharaja of Pratibandh Puram
·
Maharaja's
Name shortened to the 'Tiger King'
·
Author's
Intention to inform the readers 'The Tiger King is mortal'
·
Astrologer
announces- that the prince to be great warrior and hero of heroes, but will one
day have to meet his death.
v Ten days old prince astonishes everybody
·
Challenges
astrologer to tell the way of death
·
All
those who born will die one day
·
Astrologer
tells him that death will come from tiger because he is born in the hour of
bull
·
Infant
prince utters "let tigers beware"
v Young prince gets knowledge of his Infancy
oath
·
Brought
up like all princes of India
·
Given
milk of English cow- taught by an English tutor- watched English films
·
Crowned
at the age of twenty.
·
Word
reaches maharaja's ears about the astrologer's prediction
·
Kills
first tiger
·
Tells
the astrologer about the killing
·
Astrologer
advised to avoid killing 100`1 tiger
·
If
success in killing 100`" tiger astrologer would change his profession-
giving hint it would result in the King's death.
v King's Tiger killing mission
·
Tiger
killing banned in state
·
Defaulter's
wealth and property will be confiscated.
·
Meets
many dangerous situations.
·
Sometimes
success fully fights tigers bare handed.
·
Refuses
even British officer to kill tiger or to have photograph with dead tiger.
· In
fear of losing his kingdom Maharaja decides to bribe the officer by sending
expensive diamond rings expecting his wife would choose one or two.
·
The
Greedy officer's wife keeps all rings and sends thanks to the Maharaja.
King saved his kingdom at the cost of Rs. 3 lakhs.
v The tiger hunt
·
In ten
years of tiger hunting expeditions the king kills 70 tigers
·
Tiger
population become extinct in Pratibandh Puram .
·
Advises
Dewan to find suitable princess from a state with large tiger population.
·
Maharaja
killed 29 tigers more during his visits to in laws.
·
The
skins of 99 tigers adorn the walls of palace
v Search for 100th Tiger
·
Tiger
farms run dry in his father in law's house
·
Recalls
astrologer's warning of should beware of killing 100th Tiger
·
Decides
to give up tiger hunting after achieving the target
·
News
about the presence of a tiger near a village proves disappointing.
·
In
frustration king terminates the service of many officers
·
Dewan
is warned of the dangers and risks involved in it
v Dewan’s role in the hundredth kill
·
Arranges
an old tiger from people's park.
·
In
Madras and kept hidden in his house
·
Drags
the old and weak tiger with the help of his wife
·
King
reaches the place- shot at-tiger drops down
·
The elated
king returns to his capital orders to cart the tiger in grand procession.
v The hundredth tiger not killed
·
Tiger
(got baffled) faints from the shock of bullets
·
The
lamb like tiger wakes up
·
To
hide truth it was killed by an officer.
v The birth day present for three year old
prince
·
King
now feels relieved.
·
Brings
a wooden tiger as birth day present for his son.
·
Plays
with prince, sliver of warden rough tiger pierces kings right hand.
v The prophecy comes true
·
The
wound develops spreads all over the arm
·
Three
surgeons from Madras operated but fail to save king's life
·
Thus
the hundredth tiger takes the final revenge -Upon the tiger king.
JUSTIFICATION OF THE TITLE
“The Tiger King” is a very
appropriate title for the story for several reasons. First of all, the king is
crazy about tiger hunting so much that he marries a princess whose father’s
kingdom has a sizable tiger population. He kills one hundred tigers just to
fulfill his vow. Secondly, the king with all his frenzy, anger and ruthlessness
is as ferocious as a tiger. Thirdly, he dies of a silver prick received from a
wooden toy tiger. Finally, the prediction that a tiger would cause the king’s
death also comes true. Since the story revolves round the king and the hundred
tigers that he kills, it could not be better titled than “The Tiger King”.
NCERT QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
Page No: 8
to a princess whose father’s kingdom
possessed a large number of tigers. Being afraid of losing his job, he
presented an old tiger to satisfy the whims of his Maharaja. Likewise , the hunters
chose not to inform him of the survival of the 100th tiger and
instead killed it themselves fearing that they might lose their jobs. Even the
shopkeeper, who sold the king a cheap wooden toy tiger, quoted a higher price
lest he should be punished under the rules of emergency.
NCERT QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
Page No: 8
Read and Find Out
1. Who is the Tiger
King? Why does he get that name?
Answer
Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur, the king of Pratibandapuram, is known
as the Tiger King. At the time of his birth the astrologers declared that the
prince would have to die one day. The ten-day-old prince asked the astrologers
to reveal the manner of his death. The wise men were baffled at this miracle.
The chief astrologer said that his death would come from the tiger. The young
prince growled and uttered terrifying words: 'Let tigers beware!' He decided to
kill one hundred tigers. He thus got the name 'Tiger King'.
Page No: 10
1. What did the royal infant grow up to be?
Answer:
The royal infant grew up to be the king of Pratibandapuram
who was obsessed with the idea of killing one hundred tigers. He wanted to do
so to disprove the prophecy which said that his death would come from the
hundredth tiger. This made him kill all tigers of Pratibandapuram. He even married
for the sake of this ambition. He came to be known as the Tiger King.
Page No: 13
1. What will the Maharaja do to find the required number of tigers to
kill?
Answer
To get the required number of tigers
to kill, the Maharaja asked his dewan to find a suitable girl for him to marry.
A suitable girl for matrimonial alliance would be one who would not only come
from a royal family but also belong to a state with a large tiger population.
As Pratibandapuram had no more tigers left, a province that belonged to his
father-in-law would certainly provide him with an opportunity to kill more tigers
and reach his aim of killing one hundred tigers.
Page No: 14
1. How will the Maharaja prepare himself for the hundredth tiger which was
supposed to decide his fate?
Answer
The Maharaja wanted to be extremely
careful while dealing with the hundredth tiger which was supposed to be the reason
for his death. On encountering the hundredth one, he took a careful aim at the
tiger and shot it. When it fell in a crumpled heap, he was overcome with joy
and left the place
hastily.
Page No: 15
1. What will now happen to the astrologer? Do you think the prophecy was
indisputably disproved?
Answer
The astrologer dies before the king
of Pratibandapuram gets an opportunity to kill one hundred tigers. Disproving
his prophecy seems to be the sole reason for the king's existence. Except for
killing hundred tigers, everything else takes a back-seat for the king. The
prophecy cannot to be indisputably disproved as the king was ultimately killed
by a tiger, though neither by a real one nor by the hundredth one. Looking at
the weak, old and almost lifeless tiger that was the hundredth one, no one would
have thought that it would escape the king’s bullet by fainting at the shock of
the bullet whizzing past. It was the “tiny little wooden tiger” from the toy
shop that caused the death of Tiger King.
Page No: 17
Reading with Insight
1. The story is a satire on the
conceit of those in power. How does the author employ the literary device of
dramatic irony in the story?
Answer
The story "The Tiger King"
is a supreme example of dramatic irony.
The character acts in a way grossly inappropriate to the actual circumstances
or expects the opposite of what fate holds in store for him'. Kalki has used a
very dexterous use of dramatic irony in the story. After killing the first
tiger
the King flaunts its dead body before
astrologer to show that he is more powerful than the tiger. However, the
astrologer warns the king that he should be "careful with the hundredth tiger".
The king chooses to prove the astrologer wrong once again and makes frantic
efforts to kill hundred tigers. Thus, having shot at the old tiger, the Tiger
king believes he has killed the hundredth tiger. But the reader as well as the
king's officers and minions soon come to know that the emaciated
tiger does not get killed but only
faints. The king gets happy of killing the tiger but in actual ignorant of this
ironical fate the prediction proves to be right and mere sliver on wooden tiger's
body causes his dramatic death. Quite ironically the hundredth tiger kills the
king instead and astrologer's predictions stands vindicated.
2. What is the author’s indirect
comment on subjecting innocent animals to the willfulness of human beings?
Answer
Through this satirical story the
author has rightly portrayed how human beings have subjected innocent animals
to untold torture and death, merely to fulfill their own whims and fancies. The
maharaja’s indiscriminate killing of tigers led to their extinction in some
states, but the maharaja was oblivious to the grave consequences his action was
leading to. In order to prove an astrologer wrong the maharaja went on a
killing spree proving his dominance over the hapless animals.
3. How would
you describe the behaviour of the Maharaja’s minions towards him? Do you find
them truly sincere towards him or are they driven by fear when they obey him?
Do we find a similarity in today’s political order?
Answer
Maharaja’s minions were subservient
and sycophantic. Most of them were scared of Maharaja and tried to keep him in good
humour by obeying his orders. They did not dare to disobey him as his
displeasure could mean loss of their job or even loss of their lives.
The astrologer was afraid of
predicting his death , till Maharaja told him to “ speak without fear”. Dewan
who should have advised the king not to kill the tigers did not dare to go
against his wishes and aided his marriage
So ,it is evident that the king’s
minions were driven by fear rather than any feelings of sincerity towards their
ruler.
Today’s political order is no
different. We know too well that many of the people in power are not there
because of their ability but because of their influence and power. Moreover, others
pander to them for their own vested interests rather than for the good of the
country.
1. What was
the miracle that took place in the royal palace?
Ans. When the Maharaja was a 10 day old infant
spoke and asked intelligent questions about his death. After knowing that he
would be killed by a tiger he uttered saying “Let tigers beware.”
2. How was
the Tiger King brought up?
Ans. As a child the Tiger King was brought up
by an English nanny and tutored in English by an Englishman. He was given the
milk of an English cow. Like many other Indian crown princes he watched only
English movies.
3. What did the State
astrologer say he would do ‘if the hundredth tiger were also killed’?
The State astrologer was
so sure of his prediction that he announced that he would cut off his ceremonial
tuft, crop his hair short and become an insurance agent in case the king was
able to kill the 100th tiger, too. He was sure that the Maharaja’s death would be caused by
the 100th tiger.
4. What did
the high-ranking British officer wish to do? Was his wish fulfilled?
The
high-ranking British officer wanted to kill a tiger. When he was denied the
permission for hunting, he
sent a word to the king that he would be happy if he was allowed to get
photographed with the
dead body of a tiger killed by the king. However, his wish remained
unfulfilled.
5. How did
the Maharaja manage to save his throne?
The
Maharaja had annoyed the visiting senior British officer over the issue of
tiger-hunting and
‘stood in
danger of losing his kingdom itself’. So, the Maharaja and the Dewan decided to
placate and pacify
the officer through bribe by sending gifts of expensive diamond rings to the ‘duraisani”, the wife of
the British officer. Thus he managed to save his throne.
6. How did
the ‘duraisani’ behave on receiving the gifts?
Some fifty
samples of expensive diamond rings were sent to the duraisani and it was
expected that she would
select on or two and return the rest. But the lady proved to be greedy as she
retained all of them and
merely sent a letter of thanks.
7. Why did
the Maharaja’s tiger killing mission come to a sudden still?
Within ten
years Maharaja’s tiger hunting had resulted in the killing of seventy tigers.
However his tiger
killing mission came to a sudden standstill because the tiger population became
extinct in the forest of
Pratibandapuram.
8. Why did
the Maharaja suddenly decide to marry? Whom did he wish to marry?
The
Maharaja suddenly decided to marry because firstly, he was of marriageable age
and secondly, he wanted to kill thirty more tigers in his father-in-law’s state
in order to complete the tally of hundred tigers .For this reason he wished to
marry a girl in the royal family of a state with a large tiger population.
9. Why did
Maharaja order the dewan to double the tax?
The
Maharaja called the dewan and ordered him to immediately double the tax of the
villagers who had informed him of a tiger in the forest because despite his
best efforts he was unable to locate the beast. This infuriated the Maharaja.
The
Maharaja wished to give his son a very special gift on his birthday and he
bought a wooden toy tiger as a perfect birthday gift for his son.
11. How did
the king’s arm become seriously infected?
The king’s
arm had got infected from a prick caused by one of the slivers on the wooden
tiger. In one day, the infection got flared in the Maharaja’s right hand and in
four days it developed into a suppurating sore which spread all over the arm.
Though he was operated yet he died.
Unsolved Question
1. How did
the Maharaja kill the hundredth tiger?
2. The
title of the Maharaja reflected grandeur but his death was an anticlimax.
Justify.
3. How did
the Tiger King meet his end? What is ironical about his death?
4. What
idea do you form about the ruling Indian class during the pre-partition days
from the king’s
encounter
with shopkeeper?
5. What
idea do you form about the married life of the king?
6. Why did
the tiger king decided to marry? How do you conclude his attitude towards
marriage?
Long answer type question
1. How did the Tiger King meet his end? What
is ironical about his death?
The wooden
toy tiger the king had got as a birthday present for his son had been carved by
an unskilled carpenter. It had a rough surface with tiny slivers of wood
standing up like quills all over it. One of those slivers pierced the Maharaja’s
right hand and although the king pulled it, his arm got infected. In four days,
it developed into a suppurating sore and spread all over the arm. The king died
while being operated upon.
The king’s
death is ironical but not surprising for the reader who is, in fact, looking
forward to it. Having ‘killed’ the 100th tiger, the king is
jubilant for he has fulfilled his vow and disproved the prediction of the royal
astrologer. He is now at ease for he thinks he cannot die of a tiger’s attack. No
wonder, he orders the ‘dead’ tiger to be taken in a procession through the town
and gets a tomb erected over it. All this while he does not know that the 100th victim was not killed by him but by other hunters.
That is
indeed quite ironical. Death is lurking around him and the king is unaware of
it. Again, it is ironical that a king who has killed 100 tigers and is bold and
fearless dies of a mere ‘sliver’ on the body of a wooden tiger. Thus,
ironically death does come to him from a tiger.
2.
“The
operation is successful. The maharaja is dead.” comment on the irony of the situation.
·
The
three famous surgeons were called from Madras
·
The
whole incident is a satire on the life of rich and people in power.
·
Everything
in their life should be grand be it a disease, purchases or treatment.
·
So
when the Maharaja got hurt by a wooden splinter, specialist from Madras
·
The
surgeons discussed and debated for some time and decided to operate
·
At the
end of the operation they said the operation was successful but the Maharaja
was dead.
·
As if
the procedure was important to them but life had no meaning for them.
·
The
job of doctors is to save people and not highlight the technicalities of the
treatment.
·
But
here it was just that, poor Maharaja was relegated to a nonentity whose life
was not of much consequences to them.
(To be Contd.)
