VISTAS

2. THE TIGER KING

Short Answer Type Questions :

Q1. Who was the Tiger King? Why did he get that name?
 The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram was known as the Tiger King, because he was crazy about
killing tigers and had killed one hundred tigers just to disprove the astrologer’s prediction.

Q2. What is the significance of child’s utterance ‘Let tigers beware’? Do you find some oddity
here?
 The statement ‘Let tigers beware’ becomes significant because when the prince grew up, he really
became a terror for tigers and in a short span of about fifteen years killed ninety-nine tigers. The
oddity lies in the fact that a child barely ten days old speaks these words.

Q3. Was there any justification in the killing of so many tigers by the Maharaja? What should
he have done?
 No, there was no justification in killing so many tigers just to disprove the astrologer’s prediction.
Instead, the King should have performed his duties to the best of his ability. Public welfare and
protection of his subjects and kingdom should have been the only aim of his life.

Q4. How was the Tiger King brought up?

 The Tiger King was brought up by an English nanny, drank the milk of an English cow, tutored in
English by an English man and watched only English movies.

Q5. What is the underlined idea behind the author’s detailed description of the bringing up of
the Tiger King?
 The princes during the British days, almost all over India, were brought up on English lines
because the Britishers had a great influence on the functioning of the Indian states and they
wanted to impress upon them that only those things, belonging to the English, were the best. The
author here satirizes and ridicules the attitude of the Indian Royal families.

Q6. Do you agree with the Maharaja’s statement ‘You may kill even a cow in self-defence’? Did
the king kill tigers purely in self-defence?
 The Maharaja’s statement that one may kill even a cow in self-defence is certainly justified, but
he did not kill tigers in self-defence. He killed them with the intention of proving the astrologer’s
prediction wrong, which is illogical and unreasonable.

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Q7. Comment briefly on the relations between the king and his subjects.
 There was no love between the king and his subjects. The king was eccentric and whimsical and
did not care for the welfare of his subjects. Most of the officers and courtiers were not really
loyal to the king. They were cowards and obeyed him only out of fear. It can be proved by
hunters’ decision to hide the truth about the hundredth tiger, and the Dewan letting loose an old
tiger in the forest for the king to hunt, lest he should lose his job.

Q8. How did the Maharaja manage to save his throne?

 The Maharaja had annoyed the British Officer on the issue of tiger hunting and stood in danger of
losing his kingdom. So the Maharaja and the Dewan decided to please the officer by sending gifts
of expensive diamond rings to his wife. Contrary to the King’s expectations, she kept all the rings
and sent him a note of thanks. Though the Maharaja lost three lakh rupees, but he managed to
save his throne.

Q9. What did the Maharaja do to find the required number of tigers to kill?
 The Maharaja decided to marry because he had to kill thirty more tigers. For this reason, he
wished to marry a girl in the royal family of state with a large tiger population.

Q10. Explain : ‘It seems easier to find tiger’s milk than a live tiger’.
 Milking a tiger is next to impossible, as the beast would kill anyone who dares to do so. Thus the
expression to milk a tiger is used for a situation that is impossible. The author has used hyperbole
in a comical way that finding a tiger in Pratibandapuram was impossible.

Q11. Why did the Maharaja order the Dewan to double the tax? How did the Dewan respond to
this order?
 The Maharaja called the Dewan and ordered him to immediately double the tax of the villages
where he got the information of a tiger, but despite his best efforts he was unable to locate the
tiger which infuriated him. The Dewan was terrified and requested the King to review his order
because the doubling of taxes would result in widespread discontentment among the people.

Q12. Why and how did the Dewan take the tiger into the forest?
 At his home, the Dewan had hidden an old tiger. He feared that if the Maharaja did not get a tiger
to hunt, he would lose his job. So he and his wife dragged the tiger to their car, shoved it into the
seat and took it to the forest where the Maharaja was hunting.

Q13. How did the Maharaja feel on killing the hundredth tiger? How did he decide to celebrate
it?
 The Maharaja was overcome with happiness because his hope was fulfilled. He thought that the
prediction about his death had been disproved. On his order, the dead body of the hundredth tiger
was taken in a grand procession through the town and buried and a tomb was erected over it.
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Q14. How did the King’s arm become seriously infected?
 The King’s arm had got infected from a prick caused by one of the silvers on the wooden tiger.
The next day infection flared in the Maharaja’s right hand. In four days, it developed into a
suppurating sore which spread all over the arm.

Long Answer Type Questions :

Q1. 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?
 Dramatic irony involves a situation in a play or a story in which the spectators or the readers share
with the author, the knowledge of which a character is ignorant. The character acts in a way
which is totally inappropriate to the actual circumstances or expects the opposite of what fate
holds in store of him.

The author has made use of dramatic irony in the story. After killing the first tiger, the King tells
the astrologer that he is more powerful than the tiger. The astrologer warns him to be careful with
the hundredth tiger, and the King chooses to disprove him by killing hundred tigers. Having shot
the old tiger, he believes that he has killed the hundredth tiger. But the readers and hunters know
that the tiger was not killed and the King is ignorant what lies in his future. A mere silver on the
wooden tiger causes his dramatic death.

Through the use of dramatic irony, the author satirizes the power that refuse to take ‘no’ for
anything and whose whims and fancies are law on to their subjects. It is proved by the behaviour
of the Tiger King who kills one hundred tigers just to disprove the astrologer’s prediction about
his death.

Q2. What is the author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to the willfulness of
human beings?
 The author wants to tell his readers that man is living in a world created by God and every
creature in this world has an equal right to live. There is no need to interfere in the existence of
other living beings. Those, who kill other living beings for pleasure, are guilty of committing the
most serious and unpardonable sin.

The willful and ruthless killing of tigers in the story is contrary to the divine law and worthy of
severe punishment. Fate appears to be mocking at the Tiger King by awarding him death
sentence through a dumb and inanimate wooden tiger. Author also wants to convey that death is a
great leveler. The surgeons are there not to cure the Tiger King, but they are angels of death to
punish the Tiger King for his misdeeds.

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Q3. How would you describe the behaviour of 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
any similarity in today’s political order?
 The ruling Indian class during the British reign was often ruthless, eccentric, whimsical and
conceited. They were idiosyncratic and refused to see reason. The Tiger King is no exception to
it. He feels happy when he is informed about the presence of the hundredth tiger and immediately
announces exemption from all taxes for the villagers for three years. But when the tiger is not
traced, he thinks of doubling the taxes. The increasing anger of the King makes many officers to
lose their jobs. There is no love between the King and his subjects and one cannot expect the
minions to be sincere to the King.

The situation today is virtually the same. Everybody, in the ruling class and the serving class, is
busy serving his own end. Nobody shows the courage to bring forth the truth, and greed and
sycophancy are the order of the day. So, a clear parallel can be drawn between then and now.

Q4. We need a system for the age of ecology, a system which is embedded in the case of all
people and also a care of the earth and the life upon it. Discuss. (Value Based)
 Man, the most intelligent of all the creatures of this earth, has to look after, protect and preserve
the flora and fauna of this beautiful earth. Unfortunately, he is the chief cause of all the harm that
has come to the ecology of this blue planet, be it melting ice sheets, depleting forests and
extinction of various birds and animals. Man’s greed and selfishness has caused a great threat to
the ecology in the name of progress. It is a fact that man has failed to realize that with the
extinction of various species, his own life is in danger.

At this critical stage, we don’t need any industrial, mechanical, technological or computer age, but
an age of ecology. Every person must rise to save the earth from total annihilation. We must join
hands and do all we can to protect the biodiversity of our planet and save ecosystem and
environment from deteriorating. The depleting ozone layer and increasing global warming need
immediate international checks. It requires concerted efforts of all the people of the world. It is
high time we must consider our attitude towards ecology and save it instead of harming it.

Q5. What sort of education was given to the Tiger King? Do you approve of the type of
education given to him? Was it usual practice in most of the states in India?
 The Tiger King was given education in such a way to understand that everything that belongs to
English was worth emulating and whatever is Indian, is useless. The milk given to the young
prince belonged to an English cow. He was brought up by an English nanny, tutored in English
by an Englishman and saw nothing but English films.

This type of education was not peculiar to the Tiger King’s state alone, but almost all over India.
The wards of the ruling class were given same sort of training. This resulted in lopsided
development of the personality and the princes were alienated from their own culture. They were
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 made to believe that they were a class apart and they have nothing to do with the common man.
So, when the young princes took the reigns of their state in their hands, they behaved in an erratic
and an irresponsible manner and refused to see reason, and like the Tiger King behaved like spoilt
brats.

Q6. How did the Tiger King meet his end? What is ironical about his death?
 The wooden toy tiger, which the King has got as a birthday present for his son, was carved by an
unskilled carpenter. It had a rough surface with tiny silvers of wood standing up like quills all
over it. One of those silvers pierced into the Maharaja’s right hand and although the King pulled
it, his arm got infected and in four days it spread all over the arm. The King died while being
operated upon.

The King’s death is ironical. Having killed the hundredth tiger, the King was jubilant as he had
fulfilled his vow and disproved the prediction of the royal astrologer. He thought that he could
not die of tiger’s attack. He did not know that the hundredth tiger was not killed by him, but by
the hunters. That is indeed quiet ironical. The death is lurking around him and he is unaware of.
Again, it is ironical that the King, who has killed one hundred tigers and is bold and fearless, dies
of a mere silver of the wooden tiger.

Value Based Questions :

Q1. Do you find any moral lesson in the warning given by the chief astrologer against killing the
hundredth tiger?
 The Chief Astrologer’s warning contains a moral lesson that there is a limit to committing a sin.
When a sinner commits a sin for short-term gains, he forgets about the far-reaching effects of his
misdeeds. He feels happy with the immediate gains and thinks himself to be very smart to be able
to cheat, exploit, damage and destroy despite the resistance that he meets. The more sins he
commits the harder criminal he becomes. He is left with no sense of remorse and starts
considering himself to be invincible. Blinded by his so called success, he neither responds to
logic nor to common sense. Thus, he goes on and on with his sinning spree without realizing that
there is a limit to committing sin. In the story, ‘The Tiger King’, the Maharaja ignored the
warning of the astrologer. When the cup of his sin was full to the brim with the killing of ninety-
nine tigers, the final judgment awaited him. He could kill no more and all the sins committed by
him scripted his end. He fell prey to the wooden tiger.

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Q2. Taking ideas from the lesson ‘The Tiger King’, together with your own ideas write an article
in 120 words for your school magazine on ‘Say No to Callousness Towards Wild Life’.

 ARTICLE WRITING
‘Say No to Callousness Towards Wild Life’
XYZ
Student Editor

In God’s wonderful creation, the flora and fauna play a very significant role in enhancing the
beauty of this creation. The beautiful birds with colourful feathers, the big and small fishes, the
lovely little and huge animals – all give this creation a sense of completion. Apart from adding to
the beauty of this world, they play an even more significant role in maintaining the ecological
balance. The existence of not even a single animal is useless. God’s plan is perfect.

However, man, in his bid to prove his superiority, goes about on a killing spree. At times he kills
to prove to the world his prowess and to satisfy his ego; at times, it is his avarice that prompts him
to hunt the animals for the skins and tusks. His insensitivity to the pain, suffering and eventual
extinction of some species leave him remorseless.

No doubt, laws have been made to protect animals. There are societies and organizations who
look into the interests of the animals, but wildlife cannot be totally safe till man learns to get over
his callousness (cruelty) and treats it with such a sensitivity that allows them the right to live. The
day man realizes the significance of peaceful co-existence with animals, the world would become
a better place to live in.

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