by Kalki (Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy)
A satire on poaching, leadership and some people's insatiable ego.
“From that day onwards it was celebration time for all the tigers inhabiting Pratibandapuram. The State banned tiger hunting by anyone except the Maharaja.”
Answer the following questions:
1) Who is the Tiger King? Why does he get that name?
The real name of the Tiger King is Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur. He is the king of the state of Pratibandapuram.
When he was born, the astrologers predicted that his death will come from tigers. He was told that he was born in the hour of the bull, and should be wary of tigers as the bull and the tiger are enemies. To prove the astrologers wrong, and simply to assert his power over the said enemy beast, he started on a hunting spree killing numerous tigers. Therefore, he got the name the Tiger King.
2) What did the royal infant grow up to be?
The royal infant grew taller and stronger day by day. His bringing up was same as that of other crown princes of all the other Indian states under the British influence. He drank the milk of an English cow, was brought up by an English nanny, tutored in English by an Englishman, and saw nothing but English films. When he came of age at twenty, the State finally came into his hands. When the old prediction of the astrologer fell on his ears, he started on a tiger-hunting spree.
3) What would the Maharaja do to find the required number of tigers?
When the Maharaja had killed seventy tigers, the population of tigers in the state of Pratibandapuram became extinct. There were still thirty tigers remaining to be hunted. So, he called his dewan and asked him to survey the states with a decent amount of tiger population, and with that also inquire if there was any suitable bride for his marriage in the same state. He got married only to complete his tally of hundred tigers. He would kill five or six tigers every time he visited his in-laws.
4) How did the Maharaja prepare himself for the hundredth tiger which was supposed to decide his fate?
The Maharaja had become obsessed with killing the last tiger. His anxiety had reached fever pitch. But he decided to be extra careful with this last tiger. The Maharaja was determined when the last tiger was spotted in a hillside village. He would not leave the forest until the tiger was found.
5) What would happen to the astrologer? Do you think the prophecy was indisputably disproved?
The astrologer was long dead before the Maharaja completed his killing of hundred tigers. It seemed that the Tiger King continued the hunting of tigers only to defy the prophecy, prove the astrologer wrong, and to assert that he was more powerful than the tigers. He was not even taking care of his kingdom as he said he would attend to all the other matters only after he killed the hundredth tiger.
No, we cannot say that the prophecy was indisputably disproved. The hundredth tiger that the Tiger King thought he had killed was actually alive. The tiger was old and feeble, however, it survived the shot from the Tiger King. It had just fainted due to the shock. This meant that the Tiger King's tally still remained at ninety-nine. It was then the wooden tiger that killed the Tiger King. A splinter pierced the Maharaja's hand, caused an infection, and finally claimed the life of the king. So, in a way, the prophecy turned out to be true.
6) 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?
Satire is a genre in which people's faults, shortcomings or some social issues are presented in humorous way in order to highlight them. The story 'The Tiger King' is a satire on multiple levels with various facets including the abuse of power.
First, It accurately portrays how human beings hunt innocent animals and force them into unspeakable suffering simply for their greed and for the sake of satisfying their own ego. The king wanted to prove the astrologer's prophecy wrong, and claim that he was stronger and more powerful than the beasts of the wild. This satire is the primary driving force of the story.
Secondly, the Tiger King proved to be a terrible leader for his kingdom and people. He ignored the affairs of his state and kept them for later until he killed one hundred tigers. This took him more than ten years. Despite this, simply due to his power and ruthlessness, nobody challenged him, and he remained in power. The Tiger King not only abused his blessing of being a human, but also abused his royal power when he passed certain proclamations and orders to fulfil his desire of killing the hundred tigers.
Dramatic irony is when the audience knows a detail of the plot, but one or more characters do not. In this case, the audience and even the king's hunters knew that the hundredth tiger had not died, but only fainted due to the shock of the bullet whizzing past. It was finally shot dead by the hunters. However, the king thought he had killed the hundredth tiger, and it was even taken out for procession as commanded. This dramatic irony has been skillfully employed by the writer. We can say so because it is this irony that finally leads to the prophecy proving to be true, and the Tiger Kind dies from a splinter from a wooden tiger. The dramatic irony only gets deeper here. The Tiger King would not have even imagined at the time of his death, but the audience knows that the wooden tiger is the hundredth tiger.
7) What is the author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to the willfulness of human beings?
The author has cleverly and accurately illustrated the attitude of human beings like the Tiger King. They can go to any limits to satisfy their ego, and to follow their whims. In this case, it was the hapless tigers who suffered the frenzy of one man hell-bent on proving an astrologer wrong, and to proclaim his own superiority in front of others. In this show of power and position, the hundred tigers simply became the victims of the Maharaja's ill will of asserting his dominance, and defying the prophecy that hurt his pride. Similarly, men have been killing animals for a long time for food, valuable products or simply for the sake of entertainment. The use of heads and skins of such hunted animals for decorating the halls and walls of human abodes speaks of the pride humans feel at subjecting innocent animals to suffering and death. Men's cruelty, callousness and utter disregard towards ecological balance has been depicted in the story through the character of the Tiger King. He rendered the tiger population extinct not only in his own, but in his father-in-law's kingdom as well.
8) 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?
The Maharaja's minions were too compliant. They were terrified of the Tiger King. We cannot say that they behaved sincerely towards him. They kept key details hidden from the Tiger King out of fear of losing their jobs or their lives. The dewan, the hunters and other courtiers simply played along with the Maharaja to gain favor or fulfil their own interests. The only person who appeared to be genuine was the astrologer who boldly predicted the king's manner of death, and challenged to burn his books and cut off his tuft if proven wrong. Even the dewan, upon being asked to find a bride from a state full of tigers, did not counsel the Tiger King, but supported him. The affairs of the state were neglected for more than ten years, and no one dared advise the king to look into any of it. When the hundredth tiger had collapsed due to shock of the bullet and was found to be alive, the hunters chose not to inform the king. They feared if they informed him, they would lose their jobs. So, they preferred to kill the tiger themselves over facing the Maharaja's fury.
In today's political order too we find such instances. There are leaders who get their way only because of their power and position. Their subordinates follow their orders blindly because either they are terrified from them or they have to serve their own selfish motives. Just like in the story, such leaders and their followers hardly have the welfare of the state in mind.
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