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The Tiger King, by Kalki, is the second chapter of Vistas, the NCERT supplementary reader for Class 12 English. Everything below, from the plot to the textbook's own questions, is drawn from the NCERT chapter text.
What happens in The Tiger King?
The plot in seven steps, from the NCERT text of The Tiger King:
When the crown prince of Pratibandapuram is ten days old, astrologers say he will one day die. The baby speaks and asks how; the chief astrologer says death will come from a tiger.
At twenty he takes charge of the state, kills his first tiger, and is warned to be careful with the hundredth.
He bans tiger hunting by anyone else and vows to attend to all other matters only after killing a hundred tigers.
He refuses a British officer a tiger hunt and nearly loses his throne, then saves it by sending the officer's wife some fifty diamond rings. The jewellers' bill is three lakh rupees.
Within ten years he kills seventy tigers and his forests run out. He marries a princess from a state rich in tigers and shoots five or six on each visit to his father-in-law, until ninety-nine skins hang in his palace.
The desperate dewan secretly brings an old tiger from the People's Park in Madras to the forest. The Maharaja shoots, misses and leaves in triumph; the tiger had only fainted, and a hunter kills it from a foot away to save the hunters' jobs.
For his son's third birthday the Maharaja picks a roughly carved wooden tiger in a toyshop and takes it as the shopkeeper's offering to the prince. A sliver pierces his right hand, the wound becomes infected, and after the operation the surgeons announce: “The operation was successful. The Maharaja is dead.”
What are the main themes of The Tiger King?
The first question after the NCERT chapter calls the story “a satire on the conceit of those in power”. Build every theme answer from that line.
The arrogance of power. He treats the prophecy as a contest he can win by force: he bans hunting for everyone else, costs officers their jobs and orders the land tax doubled when a tiger hides from him.
Dramatic irony. He kills ninety-nine tigers, never actually kills the hundredth, and is finished off by a toy.
Cruelty to animals. One man's vanity empties his own forests and then his father-in-law's.
Flattery and fear. The dewan, the hunters and the shopkeeper all deceive him, not out of loyalty but out of fear for their jobs and their safety.
Dependence on the British. Raised by an English nanny and an English tutor, he keeps his kingdom only by paying off an officer's wife.
Who are the main characters in The Tiger King?
The Maharaja (Jung Jung Bahadur). Physically brave, he fights tigers with his bare hands when a bullet misses, but he is stubborn and self-important. Tigers, subjects and even his marriage are tools for his vow; he turns his attention to his son only after the “hundredth” tiger.
The dewan. Nervous but practical. He warns that doubling the land tax will turn the people against the state, then rigs the hunt with a tiger brought from Madras to protect himself.
The astrologer. He promises to burn his books, cut off his tuft and become an insurance agent if the hundredth tiger dies.
The hunters and the shopkeeper. Small people who survive a powerful man by hiding the truth from him.
How should you answer The Tiger King questions in the board exam?
Expect questions close to the five “Reading with Insight” questions printed after the NCERT chapter: how the author uses dramatic irony, the author's indirect comment on cruelty to animals, whether the minions are sincere or afraid, game-hunting by the rich and powerful today, and a new system for the age of ecology. Papers change every year, so practise the ideas rather than one memorised answer.
Use a three-part plan for a long answer:
Point. Answer in your first line, using the question's key words.
Proof. Give two specific events, such as the ninety-nine skins or the wooden tiger.
Meaning. Say what they show about power, fear or nature.
A worked opening for the dramatic irony question: “Kalki uses dramatic irony to mock the Maharaja's pride. He believes he has beaten the prophecy, but the reader knows his shot missed and a hunter killed the last tiger. In the end a wooden tiger worth two annas and a quarter kills him, so the prophecy comes true in the most humiliating way.”
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