Chapter 2 - The Tiger King

The Tiger King is a short story written by the Indian author Ramaswamy Aiyar Krishnamurthy (pen name Kalki). The story narrates (a satire) the tale of the Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, also known as the Tiger King. He was a rich and powerful king of his time, and the cause of his death was prophecised to be a tiger attack. To prove the chief astrologer wrong, the King had slain ninety-nine tigers.

Referring to the summary and solutions of Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 2 can help you understand the chapter better, and score good marks.

Summary 

The titular Tiger King actually refers to Maharaja Jung Jung Bahadur of Pratibandapuram. He was a courageous king and a skilled warrior whose death had been predicted by the chief astrologer at the time of his birth. He foretold that since the royal child was born during the hour of the bull, death would come to him from a tiger, as the tiger is considered to be the natural enemy of a bull.

The brave prince ascended the throne at the age of twenty and made a law that forbade any person in the kingdom, excluding himself from killing tigers. Known as the ‘Tiger King’, he killed all the seventy tigers present in his kingdom. As the prophecies warned him to be careful while dealing with the hundredth tiger, he felt the need to kill it more than ever in order to prove the astrologer wrong. The minister assisted in helping him get married to his third queen, associated with a state highly populated of tigers.

The king was desperate in the quest for his final kill. Fearing him, the minister brought an old tiger and left him in the forest to be hunted by the Maharaja. However, upon being shot the tiger miraculously managed to dodge the King’s bullet. The royal hunters also did not mention the news of its escape and killed the hundredth tiger themselves.

The King was finally content at the completion of his quest and celebrated the third birthday of his son. The wooden toy tiger, which he had bought for the little prince, was poorly crafted. The shopkeeper, fearing punishment, charged a steep high price. He did so to escape the rules of emergency. A wooden sliver (shaped like a feather) pierced through the King’s right hand while he and the prince were playing with the wooden tiger. He did not take much note of it. After pulling out the sliver from his hand, he resumed playing with the prince. The wound became infected within and spread throughout the arm within four days. Three renowned surgeons were brought in from Madras and after consultation- they decided to operate on the King. However, King succumbed to the injury and lost his life during the operation.

It is ironic that while the King had successfully killed ninety-nine tigers (the hundredth one being killed by the hunters), he did indeed fall to the hundredth tiger (the wooden toy tiger- which through an object, resembled a tiger). Therefore he failed to change the prophecy of the chief astrologer. The entire narration is a satire-based on the ego of powerful kings of the past.

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