The Tiger King
Q1. What were the different names given to the King of Pratibandapuram?
The king of Pratibandapuram was known as many different names. He may be identified as His Highness
Jamedar-General, Khiledar-Major, Sata Vyaghra Samhari, Maharajdhiraj Visva Bhuvana Samrat, Sir Jilani Jung
Jung Bahadur, M.A.D., A.C.T.C. or C.R.C.K.
Q2. How did the Tiger King acquire his name?
The king of Pratibandapuram got the name of Tiger King as it was prophesized that his death would come from
the hundredth tiger. Therefore, he decided to kill hundred tigers before pursuing any other affairs. He killed so
many tigers that he came to be known as the Tiger King.
Q3. What was the prediction that was made about the future of Tiger King? What was ironic about it?
When the Tiger King was born, the astrologers predicted that one day the royal infant had to die. They further
said that the death would come from the hundredth tiger. The Tiger King did die because of the hundredth tiger.
But ironically, the tiger was not the real tiger. It was a toy tiger made of wood
Q4. Why did the Maharaja decide to get married?
The Maharaja had killed all the tigers in his kingdom. But the number of killed tigers was only seventy. He still
needed thirty more tigers to kill to fulfil his vow. Therefore, he decided to marry the princess from the kingdom
which had a large number of tiger population.
Q5. When was the Tiger King stand in danger of losing his kingdom?
A British officer wanted to hunt a tiger in the Tiger King’s kingdom. But the king denied him. Then the officer
sent the word that the actual killing could be done by the king himself, he only wanted to stand on the carcass of
the tiger and be photographed. But the king even refused to do that. As a result, the king was standing in
danger of losing his kingdom.
Q6. How did the Tiger King manage to retain his kingdom?
The king ordered fifty diamond rings from a famous jeweller. He sent all the rings to the wife of the officer. He
thought that the lady would keep one or two rings and send back the remaining. But she kept all the fifty rings.
The king had to bear the expense of three lakh rupees for it, but he managed to save his kingdom.
Q7. Why did the Maharaja ban tiger hunting in his state?
The Maharaja had to fulfil his vow of killing hundred tigers. Therefore, the tiger hunting was banned by anyone
except the Maharaja. A proclamation was issued that if anyone dared to throw even a stone at a tiger, all his
wealth and property would be confiscated.
Q8. Why did one of the hunters kill the hundredth tiger?
When the hunters went near the tiger, they found that the tiger was not dead; the bullet had missed it. They
decided that the king must not come to know that he had missed his target. They thought they would lose their
jobs. Therefore, one of the hunters took aim from a distance of one foot and shot the tiger.
Q9. Why did the Maharaja order the Dewan to double the land tax?
Despite being in the forest for many days the Maharaja was unable to find the hundredth tiger so his fury and
obstinacy mounted alarmingly. Due to his frustration and rage many officers lost their jobs and when his anger
reached its height, he ordered the Dewan to double the land tax.
Q10. What kind of life was enjoyed by crown prince Jung Bahadur till he reached the age of twenty?
Till he reached the age of twenty the crown prince Jung Bahadur did exactly what the other crown princes of all
the other Indian states did. He drank the milk of an English cow, was brought up by an English nanny, tutored in
English by an Englishman and saw only English films. He had an uneventful childhood just like any Indian
prince during the British rule.
Q11. How did the Tiger King meet his death?
The king brought a wooden tiger as a birthday gift for his son. It was made by some unskilled carpenter. One of
the slivers of its body pierced the king’s hand. Soon the infection developed. Three surgeons operated the
king’s hand. But the king could not be saved.
Q12. What happened to the tiger provided by the Dewan Saheb?
The tiger provided by the Dewan Saheb was old and agile. It was passive and exhausted. The Tiger King did
not take careful aim at the hundredth tiger. The tiger fainted due to the sound of the bullet and fell in a crumpled
heap. No one wanted the Maharaja to know this. It was a hunter who actually shot the tiger later.
Long Answers Type Questions
The astrologers predicted about the king, “The child will grow up to become the warrior of warriors,
hero of heroes, champion of champions.” Do you think this prediction was right?
The astrologers predicted about the king that he would grow into warrior of warriors, hero of heroes and
champion of champions. However, this prediction was nothing but flattery. The second part of the prediction
was that the death of the king would come from a tiger. The king did nothing in his life but killed tigers.
There is no bravery in killing innocent animals with the help of a gun. In fact, the king was not a warrior but a
coward. To safeguard his life, he didn’t care about the ecology, about his people and the interests of his
kingdom. Ironically, his death was also like his life. He didn’t die while fighting in the battlefield. But a wooden
tiger became the cause of his death.
The astrologer’s prediction about the death of the Tiger King came to be true. Do you agree with this
statement?
To some extent, we can agree with the statement that the astrologer’s prediction about the death of the Tiger
King came to be true. The astrologer had predicted that the death of the Tiger King would come from the
hundredth tiger. The king started killing tigers recklessly. The hundredth tiger was not killed by the king himself
but by the hunters, who found out that the old tiger had not died by the bullet of the king but only fainted by the
bullet whizzing past him.
The hundredth tiger was a wooden toy tiger which the king had presented to his three-year-old son. It killed the
king merely by a sliver of wood protruding from it that pierced his right hand. The wound developed puss and it
soon spread all over the arm. The best surgeons failed to save the king and thus, the astrologer’s prediction
about the death of the Tiger King proved to be correct.
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?
This story on the surface level appears to be a very simple story of a cranky king, who just on the basis of a
prophesy starts killing tigers ruthlessly. This story is a bit comical and also has an element of suspense in it. But
on the deeper level, this story is in fact a satire on the conceit of those in power. As a king, Jilani Jung Jung
Bahadur has a lot of responsibilities. But he focuses his whole attention on the killing of tigers.
For his personal purposes, he proclaims that anybody in his kingdom is not allowed even to throw a stone at a
tiger. All his activities are centred on the tiger hunting. The astrologer has told him that his death would come
from the hundredth tiger. The king died but ironically the cause of his death is not a real tiger but only a wooden
king. Thus, in this story, the writer satirised those in power by using the device of irony.
How did the hundredth tiger take its revenge on the king?
The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, who was also known as the Tiger King tried to go against what was
destined in his fate. The result was tragic and ironical. The chief astrologer had predicted that a tiger would be
the cause of the king’s death and he should specially be wary of the hundredth tiger. The king banned hunting
of the tigers in the State by everyone except himself and was able to kill ninety-nine tigers. He thought he had
killed the hundredth tiger also but somehow the bullet missed its mark and the hundredth tiger survived. Then
on his son’s birthday the king bought him a wooden tiger which he felt was a perfect gift for his son. A splinter in
it pierced the king’s hand and the infection spread all over his arm causing his death. It was indeed ironical that
despite killing all the tigers in his kingdom the king did finally become the victim of the hundredth tiger and the
astrologer’s prediction did come true.
