Main points

1. When the Prince of Pratibandhpuram was born – Astrologers predicted that he would be
killed by 100th tiger, to prove the astrologer wrong he killed the first tiger and challenged the
prediction.
2. The astrologer said that the 100th tiger would kill him. The Maharaj put all his Estate duties
aside and set upon killing 100 Tigers.
3. When all the Tigers in his Estate were killed, he married a princess whose father had many
Tigers his forests.
4. He even spent Rs. 3 lakhs to please a British officer who wanted to hunt tigers in his estate.
5. Finally, the hundredth tiger was killed, the Maharaja was very happy & then decided to spend
time with his son. 6. He bought a wooden toy tiger on his son’s third Birthday – toy was made up
by an unskilled carpenter. One of slivers pierced his right hand – developed an infection –
operated & died.
7. Irony – killed 99 tigers but wooden tiger took its revenge.

Q1. 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?
Ans. Maharaja’s minions were subservient and sycophantic. Most of them feared 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 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. So, it is evident that the king’s minions were driven by fear rather than any feelings
of sincerity towards their ruler.

Q2. What is the author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to the
wilfulness of human beings?
Ans. Through this satirical story the author has rightly portrayed how human beings have
subjected innocent animals to untold torture and death, merely to fulfil 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. To prove the
astrologer wrong, the maharaja went on a killing spree proving his dominance over the hapless
animals.

Q3. Pick out the instances of satire in the story The Tiger King.
Ans. Satire employs irony, sarcasm, ridicule, etc. in exposing and criticizing follies and vices in
men. The story uses humour to criticize self-seeking Kings who wilfully exploit both nature and
their subjects for selfish interests.
1. When the Maharaja of Pratibandhpuram was told that he would be killed by a tiger, he could
never imagine the twist in fate where a toy tiger could be fatal. Because of his conceit, he was
unprepared for such surprises flung by life at him.
2. The grandeur associated with a king’s life proves a mockery. The news of the king’s ailment
invited not one, but three surgeons. They got so tied up in technicalities that they declared the
operation successful even though the king died.
3. The story also satirizes the corrupting influence of power. Just because the Tiger King had
power, he felt he could browbeat his subjects and even defeat fate. He neglected his
responsibility as a ruler. He neglected the welfare of his subjects, his family, increased and
reduced taxes at will and sacked his officers. They feared him or else he would have learnt the
truth.
4. When we see the king gloating over his bravery after killing the hundredth old, weak tiger, we
notice that Kalki is satirizing the notions of cowardice and bravery. There is no heroism in fighting
an unequal battle. The King’s cowardice was obvious when he justifies that one may kill even a
cow in self-defence.
5. Kalki is also criticizing the King’s men and subjects who pander to his whims out of fear or like
the shopkeeper manipulate and fool him.

Q 4. 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?
Ans
Dramatic irony is a literary device whereby the words and actions of the characters of a work of
literature have an opposite meaning for the reader than they do for the characters. The author
effectively uses the tool of dramatic irony in the story. For instance, after killing the first tiger,
the Tiger King displays it ostentatiously in front of the astrologer. But the astrologer warns him to
be ‘very careful with the hundredth tiger’.
Having shot at the hundredth tiger, the king believes that it is dead. But the tiger has only
fainted from the shock of the bullet flying past it. The irony comes into play when the king buys a
wooden toy tiger for his son and gets injured from the slivers of wood. He dies due to an
infection from the wooden sliver, as he has been doomed to death.

Q 5. Character Sketch of the Tiger King.

The Tiger King, officially known as His Highness Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur, Maharaja of
Pratibandapuram, is a satirical and exaggerated portrayal of a vain, arrogant, and power-drunk
monarch. From the very beginning, his character is steeped in irony — he is born under the
shadow of a dire prophecy that he will be killed by a tiger (tiger being the enemy of bull-- the
hour he was born in), and ironically, this becomes his life’s obsession. Determined to prove the
prophecy wrong, he embarks on a foolish and destructive mission to kill one hundred tigers.
However, his character is also (colonialism, English conditioning, jabs on INC, Emergency,
sterilisation, etc.)
The Tiger King is shown to be supremely egotistical. His pride leads him to believe he can defy
fate itself. His first act of “bravery” — killing a tiger at the age of ten — is treated as a grand
feat, and he demands that his subjects celebrate it. He is self-important and insecure about his
power, often resorting to tyranny. For instance, he bans tiger hunting for all others in his
kingdom, marries a princess from a state with a large tiger population purely to meet his target,
and punishes officers mercilessly if they fail to meet his expectations.
Though he tries to present himself as valiant and wise, the Tiger King is ultimately foolish and
impulsive. His decisions are driven by superstition, not strategy. He is blind to the real
consequences of his actions — such as the ecological damage caused by wiping out all the tigers
— and completely misses the irony when the hundredth tiger survives his bullet. The greatest
irony of all lies in his eventual death, caused not by a tiger but by a tiny sliver from a wooden toy
tiger, thus fulfilling the prophecy in an absurdly poetic manner.
The Tiger King stands as a caricature of autocratic rulers: proud, self-deluded, and blind to both
fate and reason. His character is a vehicle for satire, exposing the futility of arrogance and the
dichotomy between free will and destiny.

Home Assignment:
CBSE 2024 PYQ:

1. “Tiger population became extinct in the forests of Pratibandapuram.” Tiger King is

a typical example of man’s dominance over nature. As a member of your school Eco
Club, write an article for your school magazine on how man should follow the policy of
‘Live and Let Live’.
You may begin like this:
The noblest principle, man should follow in his life is co-existence.

2. From that day onwards it was celebration time for all the tigers inhabiting
Pratibandapuram. The State banned tiger hunting by anyone except the Maharaja. A
proclamation was issued to the effect that if anyone dared to fling so much as a stone
at a tiger, all his wealth and property would be confiscated. The Maharaja vowed he
would attend to all other matters only after killing the hundred tigers. Initially the
king seemed well set to realise his ambition.
(i) Select the correct option:
‘… he would attend to all other matters only after killing hundred tigers’. This reflects
Tiger King’s
(A) courage (B) determination (C) selfishness
(D) kindness
(ii) Complete the sentence appropriately. From that day onwards it was celebration
time for all the tigers. The above statement is ironical in the sense _______.
(iii) ‘… if anyone dared to fling so much as a stone at a tiger, all his wealth and
property would be confiscated’. What trait of the king is reflected in the above line?
(iv) State whether the following statement is TRUE or FALSE. The King’s ambition is to
save people from the tigers.

3. In other words, the Tiger King is dead. The manner of his death is a matter of
extraordinary interest. It can be revealed only at the end of the tale. The most
fantastic aspect of his demise was that as soon as he was born, astrologers had
foretold that one day the Tiger King would actually have to die. “The child will grow
up to become the warrior of warriors, hero of heroes, champion of champions. But...”
they bit their lips and swallowed hard. When compelled to continue, the astrologers
came out with it. “This is a secret which should not be revealed at all. And yet we are
forced to speak out. The child born under this star will one day have to meet its
death.” (The Tiger King)
i. Complete the sentence appropriately. The author’s purpose in using
foreshadowing, is to _______________.
ii. In the given extract, what emotion were the astrologers feeling when they "bit
their lips and swallowed hard"?
A. Humiliation B. Disbelief C. Grief
D. Unease
iii. Which trait are the astrologers lauding when they say "warrior of warriors,
hero of heroes, champion of champions"?
iv. How is the line, "the most fantastic aspect of his demise", an example of
contrast?

4. How does the incident with the wooden tiger and its consequences, contribute to
the overarching theme of fate and retribution, in The Tiger King?

5. Until then the Maharaja had given his entire time and energy to tiger hunting. He
had no time to spare for the crown prince.
(The Tiger King)
In the present times, we see people following their profession and running after
money and neglect their children. As a professional counsellor, you address working
parents, stressing the need to spend quality time with children. Take material from
the story ‘The Tiger King’ to re-inforce your points of view.
You may begin like this.
Spending time with children will boost their confidence…