Introduction

The story ‘The Tiger King’ is a satire on the pride and stubbornness of those
in power. The writer takes us to the days of autocratic and eccentric kings.
These kings lived under the thumb rule of British, hence they fear them.
Most of the time the rulers were not interested in serving the people and
working for the welfare of the public; instead they spent their time in
foolish pursuits. They flouted all laws and bent them to suit their selfish
interests. The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram tried to belie what was written
in his fate. The chief astrologer had predicted that the cause of his death
would be a tiger. The King tried his best to belie the prediction. His
campaign of tiger-hunting was very successful. All his strategies and wise
plans worked till he killed 99 tigers. But the hundredth tiger eluded him till
his death. The irony of fate brings quite an unexpected end of the Maharaja.
The hero who killed ninety nine tigers couldn’t kill the only one that was
left. The last tiger he thought to be dead survived. The King’s bullet had
missed its mark. Ironically, the hundredth tiger which caused his death was
not a ferocious beast of blood and flesh. It was a wooden tiger. One of the
slivers of wood pierced his right hand and caused infection and a
suppurating sore. It ultimately led to his death.

Theme
Animals and birds are as much part of the nature as human beings. The
destruction or haphazard killing of one species may not only lead to its
extinction, but it will adversely affect the ecological balance. Those animals
which serve as food for the wild animals, will increase in large number, if
the beast of prey are wiped out. Each species, howsoever fierce, deadly,
ferocious or poisonous has its role in maintaining ecological balance in
nature.

Characters
1. The Tiger King: a hero of the story, the Maharaja of Pratibandhpuram,
also known as His Highness Jamedar, General Khiledar-Major, Sata-
Vyaghra samhari, Maharajadhiraja Visva Bhuvana samrat, Sir Jilani
Jung Jung Bahadur, M.A.D., A.C.T.C., or C.R.C.K.
2. Crown prince: a ten day old baby who later became the Maharaja of
Pratibandhpuram.
3. Chief astrologer: a royal foreteller of the state.
4. Durai: means “chief, leader” in Tamil.
5. A British high ranking officer & his secretary
6. Dewan: a chief administrative office of the Maharaja.
7. Duraisani: the wife of the high ranking British officer, a greedy woman
who takes all the 50 or so diamond rings for herself.

Summary
The Maharaja Sir Jilani Jung Jung Bhadur was called “Tiger King”. When
he was just 10 day old, he asked intelligent questions to the astrologers and
was told that he would be killed by a tiger. He uttered “Let tigers beware!”
No other miracle took place, the child grew like any other Royal child
drinking white cow’s milk. He was taught by an English tutor and looked
after by an English nanny. He watched English films. When he was 20, he
was crowned as king. It was then the prediction of his death by the tiger
reached the Maharaja’s ear and he in turn to safe guard himself killed a
tiger and being thrilled he told the astrologer who replied that he can kill 99
tigers but should be careful with the 100th. He pledged that all other affairs
of the state would be attended after killing the hundred tigers. Then he
started killing tigers. None except Maharaja was allowed to hunt tigers. A
high-ranking British officer visited the state that was fond of hunting tigers
and his wish was declined. The officer requested for getting a photograph
with a tiger killed by Maharaja and this request was rejected. So to please
the officer’s wife, he sent 50 diamond rings expecting that she would take
one or two, instead she kept all the rings costing 3 lakh rupees and sent
‘thanks’ to the Maharaja. But his state was secured. In 10 years, he killed 70
tiger and didn’t find any in Pratibandapuram so he decided to marry a girl
from royal state which had more tigers to complete his target. Whenever he
visited his in-laws, he killed 5-6 tigers. So he killed 99 tigers and was
feverishly anxious to kill the 100th but couldn’t find. News about the
presence of a tiger near a village proved disappointing. He asked his Dewan
to find the tiger otherwise face his anger. Now the Dewan was afraid of
losing his job so he visited ‘People’s Park in Madras’ and brought an old
tiger and placed it in the forest and informed the Maharaja. The Maharaja
took great care and shot the tiger and left the place with great triumph. The
bullet did not hit the tiger but out of fear the tiger had collapsed. Now the
staff killed the tiger and brought it in grand procession. It was the third
birthday of the Maharaja’s son and he wanted to buy a present from the
toyshop. He bought a wooden tiger which was poorly carved. While the
Maharaja was playing with the prince, a tiny sliver of the wooden tiger
pierced his right hand which later on caused his death. Thus the hundredth
tiger takes his final revenge upon the “Tiger King”.

Gist of the lesson:

 The Maharaja Sir Jilani Jung Jung Bhadur was called “Tiger King”
. · When he was just 10 days old he asked intelligent questions to the
astrologers and was told that he would be killed by a tiger. He uttered “Let
tigers beware!”
 No other miracle took place, the child grew like any other Royal child
drinking white cow’s milk, taught by an English tutor, looked after by an
English nanny and watched English films.
 When he was 20, he was crowned as king. It was then the prediction of
his death by the tiger reached the Maharaja’s ear and he in turn to safe
guard himself killed a tiger and being thrilled he told the astrologer who
replied that he can kill 99 tigers but should be careful with the 100th .
 From then on he started killing tiger and none was allowed to hunt
tigers. A highranking British officer visited the state that was fond of
hunting tiger and his wish was declined.
 The officer requested for getting a photograph with a tiger killed by
Maharaja and this request was rejected.
 So to please the officer’s wife he sent 50 diamond rings expecting that
she would take 1 or 2 instead she kept all the rings costing 3 lakh rupees
and sent ‘thanks’ to the Maharaja. But his state was secured.
 In 10 years he killed 70 tiger and didn’t find any in Pratibandapuram so
he decided to marry a girl from royal state which had more tigers to
complete his target whenever he visited his in-laws he killed 5-6 tigers.
So he killed 99 tigers and was feverishly anxious to kill the 100th but
couldn’t find news about the presence of a tiger near a village proved
disappointing.
 Now the Dewan was warned of his danger so he visited ‘People’s Park in
Madras’ and brought an old tiger and placed it in the forest and informed
the Maharaja.
 The Maharaja took great care and shot the tiger and left the place with
great triumph the bullet did not hit the tiger but out of fear the tiger had
collapsed. Now the staff killed the tiger and brought it in grand
procession it was the 3rd birthday of the Maharaja’s son and he wanted
to buy a present from the toyshop. He bought a wooden tiger which was
poorly carved. 97
 While the Maharaja was playing with the prince a tiny sliver of the
wooden tiger pierced his right hand which later on caused his death.
Thus the hundredth tiger takes his final revenge upon the “Tiger King”.