The Tiger King Summary | Class 12 | Chapter 2 | Vistas | English Core |

The Tiger King Summary | Class 12 | Chapter 2 | Vistas | English Core | Kalki |

 The Tiger King Summary

The Tiger King Summary : This chapter revolves around the king of Pratibandapuram who was blind in power therefore met his end tragically. When he was born, the child was declared as champion of champions, warrior of warriors & hero of heroes by one of the astrologers. Besides, it was also predicted that he was born in the hour of bull, bulls and tigers are enemies therefore his death comes from a tiger.

Hearing this prophecy, the ten day old boy Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur starts speaking astonishingly. He challenges the astrologers and threaten tigers too in his squeaky voice. The king grows up hale and hearty with the passage of time. He drinks the milk of an English cow, watches English movies and brought up by an English nanny and tutored by an English man. When he sits on the throne as a king, he shoots his first tiger and sends for the chief of the astrologer. There, he gets to know that his death will come from the hundredth tiger not before that.

He keeps on killing the tigers one by one till he reaches the tally of 70 and faces the extinction of tiger’s population. Soon, he decides to get married in order to kill rest of the 30 tigers. He kills five or six tigers every time he goes to his father-in-law’s estate. In this way, he reaches the tally of 99 but the same problem occurs again. The population of tigers once again comes on the verge of extinction.

Filled with fury and rage, the Tiger King, starts firing all his employees one by one. He even asks his trustworthy Dewan to quit his job if he fails to arrange the hundredth tiger. Dewan, who is in the fear of losing his job, arranges an old and weak tiger from People’s park, Madras and leaves it into the Maharaja’s presence. Having seen the tiger, the maharaja takes the aim and shoots the tiger. The tiger, being weak and old, actually faints of whizzing sound of the bullet. Considering him dead, the Maharaja orders his hunters to bring the carcass to Pratibandapuram. When they go to pick up the body, they find the tiger rolling its eyes. They shoot him due to fear of being sacked from the job.

Now comes Maharaja Son’s third birthday, he buys a wooden tiger for his birthday which was carved by an unskilled carpenter and had a rough surface with tiny slivers stood up like quills. While playing, one of slivers pierces Maharaja’s right hand which leads to infection followed by his death. In this way, the king of kings, hero of heroes, and champion of champions dies ironically in the end.

Besides Kalki often takes a dig at his personality, behavior and his minions throughout the chapter. 

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Short Answer Type Questions of The Tiger King

Q1. How was the tiger king brought up?

The tiger king was brought up as other kings of India. He drank the milk of an English cow, watched only English movies and was taught by an English Tutor. Moreover, he was looked after by an English nanny.

Q2. What did the astrologers predict on the birth of the tiger king? How did he respond?

When Tiger king was born, it was predicted that his death would come from a tiger. Having heard the prediction, he got angry and proclaimed that he needed not to afraid of tigers rather tigers needed to be afraid of him.

Q3. Why was everybody shocked on listening to the words of Tiger king?

Everybody was shocked to see the ten days old boy who was raising intelligent questions. Apart from that, he was speaking in his squeaky voice to communicate with astrologers.

Q4. How did Maharaja manage to save his kingdom?

Maharaja managed to save his kingdom by sending 50 expensive rings to the wife of that British officer whom he had refused to shoot a tiger or being photographed with him. He ordered a lot of 50 rings to a jeweler and sent all the rings to his wife.

Q5. Why did the Maharaja send for astrologers on killing his first tiger?

Maharaja sent for astrologers on killing his first tiger because he thought that he had achieved his target. The astrologer told him that he could kill ninety nine tigers bravely but to beware of the hundredth beast.

Q6. Why did Maharaja decide to marry a royal girl?

Maharaja decided to marry a royal girl because she had tigers in her estate. Till that time, he had killed seventy tigers and needed thirty more to be killed. In order to achieve his target, he decided to get married.

Q7. Why did Maharaja decide to double the land tax?

When the Maharaja got depressed due to non availability of hundredth tiger, he was informed that sheep were disappearing from the hill. On reaching there, he found there was no tiger. His anger reached its peak and decided to double the land tax but forbade doing so, on the advice of Dewan.

Q8.  How did dewan arrange the hundredth tiger?                  

Dewan had a fear of losing his job. So he went to People Park’s Madras and brought an old and lazy tiger for the Maharaja. He brought that tiger in his car with the help of his wife.

Q9. What did the hunters notice about the dead tiger?

The hunters noticed that the tiger was not dead and the bullet had missed its target. He had, actually, fainted due to the whizzing sound of the bullet. So they took the aim and shot the tiger.

Q10. What did the Maharaja buy for his son on his birthday? Why?

The maharaja bought a wooden tiger, carved by an unskilled carpenter, for his son. Earlier he had been busy in shooting his tiger but now he had decided to spare time for his growing son. The only reason for buying that tiger was the non availability of any other good thing in the market.

Q11. How did the Maharaja reach the state of losing his life?

The tiger brought by the Maharaja, was carved by an unskilled carpenter that had tiny wooden slivers on it. One of the slivers pierced Maharaja’s right hand which led to infection. Three surgeons were called from Madras who declared that he was dead.

Q12. How did the Maharaja acquire his name ‘The Tiger King’?

The Maharaja acquired his name as Tiger King because of his habit of killing tigers. He had to turn down the prediction of astrologers who had predicted that his death would come from a tiger.

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Long Answer Type Questions of The Tiger King

Q1. ‘The Tiger King’ is a satire on those who are in power. Do you agree? Give reasons in support to your answer.

There is no doubt that this chapter is a satire on the Maharaja of Pratibandapuram. The usage of this literary devise makes this chapter more interesting and adds humor to this. Moreover, it sheds light on the foolishness of Tiger King who ignores the warning of the astrologers. Having known that his death will come from a hundredth tiger, he starts killing them one by one rather than stop killing them. If he had acted on the warning of astrologers, he would not have been killed. Besides, the narrator makes fun of him stating that he was champion of champions yet he missed his mark while killing the hundredth one. Moreover, his own dewan ridicules him at the time of their discussion about his marriage saying that he was married and already had two wives. In the end, when he got infection throughout his hand and died, the surgeons made fun of him by saying that the operation was successful and he was no more. Seeing these examples, we can conclude that this chapter is a sheer satire on the powerful but foolish Maharaja.

Q2. How did the hundredth tiger take his revenge upon the Maharaja?

When the Maharaja was born it was predicted that his death would come from a tiger, he foolishly decided that he would kill all the tigers one by one. He kept on killing tigers and reached the target of ninety nine tigers. When he saw his last prey, he decided to shoot him on the spot without delaying.  The tiger which was lazy as well as old fainted due to whizzing sound of the bullet. He thought that his mission was complete. On the very next day, it was his son’s birthday. In order to show his care towards his son, he went to market and bought a wooden tiger. That tiger was carved by an unskilled carpenter, which had a rough surface and tiny wooden slivers on it. One of the slivers pierced Maharaja’s right hand and led to severe infection through out the arm. Three surgeons were called from there who declared that the operation was successful and that way the hundredth tiger took his revenge upon the tiger king.

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