THE TIGER KING
- Kalki
INTRODUCTION: The story is a satire on the rich and powerful kings of the olden times. In
order to prove the prophecies of the fortune teller wrong, the king of Pratibandapuram
mindlessly kills ninety nine tigers but the hundredth one, the cause of the king’s death
escapes his bullet. Ultimately, the king is killed by an inanimate tiger made of wood. Hence,
the prophecy turns to be true, despite the king’s efforts to prove it wrong.
THEME: There is no way to avoid death, which is a given. Destiny has unlimited power and
is unavoidable. Nobody can alter fate. Men in positions of authority are cruel to animals.
They murder defenceless animals under various justifications. The maharaja kills the tigers
since the astrologer predicted that a tiger will be the cause of his demise. He kills them in
order to avoid dying.
CHARACTER SKETCH:-
1. TIGER KING: The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, Sir Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur, had many
titles and sub-names. However, he was popular as the Tiger King. When he was born, the
astrologers had predicted his death which would be caused by a tiger. But the baby had
some miraculous quality in him. He was only ten days old, when he challenged the prediction
of the astrologers and asked them the manner of his death. The Chief astrologers foretold
that he was born in the hour of the Bull. The Bull and the Tiger are enemies. Therefore his
death would come from the Tiger.
The Crown Prince was brought up in an English environment. He grew up a tall, sturdy, brave
and strong man. He become the king of his state at the age of twenty. He was determined to
fulfill his pledge. So he issued a proclamation not to kill the tigers except by himself. Being a
man of firm determination and self-respect, he denied permission to the British officer to
hunt a tiger. In return, he had to pay a high price to retain his throne. In a duration of ten
years, he killed seventy tigers and his forests became extinct. Then he married a princess
whose father had a large forest cover full of tigers. There he killed more and reached ninety-
nine tigers but the hundredth one merely fainted due to the shock of the bullet. His hunters
came there and killed it. Thus the tiger king thought that he had fulfilled his vow. Thus it can
be said that he was a brave, courageous king but lacked worldly wisdom.
2. DURAI: Durai was a high ranking British officer. He was fond of hunting tigers but his wish
was declined by the king. He then requested for getting a photograph with a tiger killed by
maharaja and this request of his was also rejected.
3. DURAISANI: The ‘Duraisani’ was the wife of a high-ranking British officer who visited
Pratibandapuram. She had a lot of influence on her husband. The Tiger King used her to
avoid his kingdom being confiscated by the British officer in response to being refused to do
tiger hunting in his kingdom. The Tiger King sent fifty diamond rings as bribe to Duraisani
expecting her to keep one or two out of them and send the rest back. However, the
‘Duraisani’ turned out to be very greedy; she kept all the fifty rings and sent a ‘thank you’
note to the king.
4. CHIEF ASTROLOGER: The Chief Astrologer is an important character in the story as he is
the one who predicts the Tiger King’s fate. He is also superstitious and believes in the power
of astrology and prophecy. He vows to burn his books and cut off his tuft (a small of hair) in
case his prediction turned wrong.
SUMMARY:-
The Tiger King is the story of king Jung Jung Bahadur of Pratibandapuram, a brave warrior
whose death had been predicted when he was born. The chief astrologer had predicted as
the royal child was born in the hour of the bull, the tiger being its enemy, death would come
to the child by a tiger. The brave prince asked all tigers to beware of him. He came to be
known as ‘tiger king’.
The prince became king at the age of twenty and considering killing a cow in self defense to
be lawful, went on a tiger killing spree. He was warned of danger from the hundredth tiger
that he encountered. As all the tigers in his kingdom had been killed by him but still he had
to kill more, he married into a state having a high population of tigers.
When his killings reached ninety nine, he desperately sought the next hunt. Fearing the
king’s harshness, the minister planted an old tiger in the forest for him to kill. The king fired
at it but the tiger escaped the bullet miraculously. The royal hunters feared the king and so
did not inform him; rather they killed the beast themselves.
The king was satisfied that he had evaded death and now celebrated his son’s third birthday.
He got a wooden toy tiger as a gift for the prince. Although it was poorly done, the
shopkeeper, fearing punishment under the rules of emergency charged a high price. As both
the king and his son were playing with the tiger, one of the thin pieces of wood that were
erupting out of the wooden tiger like feathers pierced the king’s right hand.
The wound became infectious, spread through his arm and as he was being operated upon,
he died. So, ironically, the hundredth tiger killed the king and eventually took its revenge.
