The Tiger King

Summary

The Tiger King is the story of Maharaja Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur of Pratibandapuram, a brave warrior whose manner of death had been predicted when he was born. The chief astrologer had predicted that as the royal child was born in the hour of the bull, the tiger being its enemy, he would die at the hands of a tiger. The brave prince asked all tigers to beware of him. Therefore, he came to be known as the ‘tiger king’.

When the prince became the king of his kingdom at the age of 20, he came to know about the prophecy and went on a tiger killing spree. After killing the first tiger he was told by the astrologer that he could go on killing the first 99 tigers successfully but he had to be careful of the hundredth tiger which could take his life. After killing 70 tigers, there were no more tigers left in his kingdom so he married a girl from a kingdom with a high tiger population to continue his mission.

When his killings reached ninety nine, he desperately sought the next hunt. Fearing the king’s harshness, the dewan planted an old tiger in the forest for him to kill. The king fired at it but the tiger escaped the bullet and only fainted. 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 slivers of wood that were erupting out of the wooden tiger 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. 

Reading with Insight

1. 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?

Answer.

The story “The Tiger King” is a satire on the self-admiration of those in power. It is also the best instance of dramatic irony in a situation where the entire significance of a character’s talk is obvious to the readers but is not known to the characters present in it. The Maharaja, because of the prediction that he would meet his death from the hundredth tiger that he killed, screamed a warning to all the tigers. He explained the act of killing tigers as ‘self-defence’. The state banned the hunting of tigers by anyone in the state except the Maharaja. The Maharaja tried his utmost best to distort the prediction of the astrologers since his kingdom astrologer had foretold the Maharaja’s death by a tiger. He was to be more careful of the hundredth tiger. Instead, the courtiers spent their time living luxuriously and comfortably off the taxes of the people and in foolish pursuits. Even the courtiers took extreme advantage of their power. The story is full of situations of irony that expose the foolishness of dictatorial rulers who neglected nature and bent laws to suit their selfish wishes. The author manipulates dramatic irony in the story with a twist of fortune when the bullet of the Maharaja failed to kill the hundredth tiger and he remains unaware of it. The irony lies in the point that the tiger which caused the death of the Tiger King was a wooden tiger. One of its tiny slivers pierced into the right hand of the king. An infection flared and a suppurating sore spread all over the arm. In vain struggles to prove the astrologer wrong, the Maharaja had killed 99 tigers, but by failing to kill the last tiger and celebrating his ‘triumph’ over his fate, Maharaja had invited death as he was ironically killed by a little wooden toy tiger. While everyone thought it was just an accident, we the readers know that it was the hundredth tiger avenging the death of his ninety-nine comrades. Hence the dramatic irony.

2. What is the author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to the willfulness of human beings?

Answer.

Through this satirical story, the author incorporates some humour and also explains how humans kill innocent creatures or animals just to show their supremacy and desires to fulfil their whims and fancies. The Maharaja’s wild killing of 99 tigers had led to their destruction in many forests, but he was unaware of the severe results his foolish actions would lead to. To save his life and lead a satisfactory one, the Maharaja mercilessly drove the helpless animals to extinction just to show his power and legacy and to prove the astrologer wrong. He wished to show his superiority as a human being, strength over nature and his destiny and exercised his power to kill hundred luckless tigers.

3. 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? Do we find a similarity in today’s political order?

Answer.

The Maharaja’s servants were remarkably subservient and loyal to his every command. Most of them were terrified of the Maharaja and decided to keep him in good humour by following his orders. They did not dare resist him as his anger could mean the loss of their jobs or even the loss of their lives. The astrologer was afraid of predicting his death, but the Maharaja had asked him to talk without any fear. The Dewan, who was his close advisor, could not stop him from killing tigers, fearing his anger, and he arranged the Maharaja’s marriage to a princess as per his wishes. Since he was scared of losing his post, he even planted an old tiger to pacify the King’s anger and please him. Likewise, the hunters chose not to notify him of the survival of the hundredth tiger and instead killed it themselves, fearing that they might lose their jobs. Finally, the shopkeeper, who sold the wooden tiger to the King, quoted a higher price to avoid a penalty. So it is obvious that the king’s servants were driven by fear rather than by any feelings of justice towards their king.

Yes, today’s political order is very similar to that of the Maharaja’s story. It means there’s no difference. Most people these days occupy various positions of political power based individually on their influence and power.