NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Vistas English
Chapter 2 - The Tiger King
QUESTIONS FROM THE TEXTBOOK SOLVED
READ AND FIND OUT
Q1. Who is the Tiger King? Why does he get that name?
Ans. Jung Jung Bahadur, The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram was called the Tiger King. At the time of his birth, the astrologers declared that he would have to die one day. The ten-day-old prince asked the astrologers to explain the manner of his death. Everyone was baffled at this miracle. The chief astrologer said that his death would come from the tiger. The young prince grumbled and uttered terrifying words: ‘Let tigers beware!’ He decided to kill one hundred tigers. He, thus, got the name ‘Tiger King’.
Q2. What did the royal infant grow up to be?
Ans. Crown prince Jung Jung Bahadur grew taller and stronger day by day. He was brought up by an English nanny, drank the milk of English Cow and tutored in English by an Englishman. When he came of age at twenty, he got control of his state. He decided to kill tigers. It was an act of self-defence for him, as the astrologers had predicted his death by a tiger.
Q3. What will the Maharaja do to find the required number of tigers to kill?
Ans. Within ten years, the Maharaja killed seventy tigers. Then there were no more tigers left in the forests of Pratibandapuram. So, One day the Maharaja asked his dewan to find him a suitable girl to marry. He asked the dewan to draw up statistics of tiger populations in the different native states. Then choose a girl from the royal family of a state with a large tiger population. The dewan found the right girl from a state which possessed a large number of tigers. The Maharaja killed five or six tigers each time he visited his father-in-law. This way, he killed Ninety-nine tigers.
Q4. How will the Maharaja prepare himself for the hundredth tiger which was supposed to decide his fate?
Ans. The Maharaja wanted to be extremely careful while dealing with the hundredth Tiger. But by this time the tigers became extinct even in his father-in-law’s kingdom. It became impossible to locate tigers anywhere. The late chief astrologer had said to beware of the hundredth tiger. The Maharaja was sunk in gloom. Then came the happy news. In his own state sheep began to disappear frequently from a hillside village. Surely, it was the work of a tiger. The villagers ran to inform the Maharaja. The Maharaja announced a three-year exemption from all taxes for that village. He set out on the hunt at once. But the tiger was not easily found. The Maharaja continued camping in the forest and waiting for the tiger.
Q5. What will now happen to the astrologer? Do you think the prophecy was indisputably disproved?
Ans. To save his job, the dewan got an old tiger brought from the People’s Park in Madras. It was kept hidden in his house. One midnight with the aid of his aged wife, he dragged the tiger to the car and pushed it into the seat. He himself drove the car to the forest where the Maharaja was hunting. The dewan dragged the tiger out of the car and pushed it down to the ground. The next day, the same old tiger wandered into the Maharaja’s presence. The Maharaja took careful aim at the beast. The tiger fell down in a crumpled mass. The Maharaja was very happy that he had killed the hundredth tiger.
The hunters found that the tiger was not dead. It had only fainted on hearing the sound of the bullet. They did not want the Maharaja to know about this and lose their jobs. So one of them take the shot at it and killed it. The dead tiger was taken in procession through the town and buried there. A tomb was built over it.
The prophecy was not disproved as the king met his death with the infection caused by the sliver of a wooden tiger. The astrologer was already dead. He could not be punished or rewarded.
READING WITH INSIGHT
Q1. 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?
Ans. The story is a satire on the conceit of those in power. It is usually seen that those in power have too much pride in themselves and what they do. Two such specimens in the story are the Tiger King and the British officer. The Maharaja, fearing the prophecy that he would meet his death from the hundredth tiger, launched a hunt in the name of “self-defence”.
The author employs dramatic irony and humour to show their faults and weaknesses. The Tiger King resolves to hunt a hundred tigers to disprove the prediction of the astrologer. The Tiger King killed Ninety-Nine Tigers but came under threat from a wooden toy tiger. After taking a shot at the old tiger the tiger king believed that he had killed the hundredth tiger but the emaciated tiger does not get killed but only faints. The king gets happy but in actual ignorant of this ironic fate the prediction proved to be right and the king died by a mere silver on a wooden tiger's body.
The high-ranking British officer is equally arrogant. He is more interested in photograph carcasses than hunting itself. The Tiger King offers to organise any other hunt except tiger-hunt. It may be a boar-hunt, mouse-hunt, or even a mosquito hunt. He has to lose three lakh of rupees for his refusal. The ego of the British officer is satisfied when his wife is pleased to get diamond rings sent by the Maharaja.
Q2. What is the author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to the willfulness of human beings?
Ans. Through the story, 'The Tiger King', The writer has told how humans have subjected innocent animals to never-ending torture and death for their own pleasure and desires.
The King's indiscrimination towards killing tigers led to its extinction in all states where he hunted and shot them. All this was done to disprove astrologers' prophecy that a tiger would kill the King. The King's ego and boastfulness cost the poor tigers to lose their life. The King Quotes an old saying, "You may kill even a cow in self-defence”. Hence, he finds no objection to killing tigers in self-defence.
The writer has very skillfully manifested how the cruel killing of animals leads to a depletion of natural resources. The sensitive environmental issue of certain species becoming extinct is beautifully and humorously conveyed.
Q3. 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?
Ans. The Maharaja has many minions or servants. Many of them were scared of him and didn't want to disobey his orders because it meant losing their jobs or even losing their life.
The astrologer who predicted the King's death spoke in fear till the Maharaja told him to "speak without fear". The dewan didn't stop the king from hunting and aided his marriage with the girl whose father's kingdom possessed a large number of tigers. Being afraid of losing his job he presented an old tiger from madras to satisfy the whims of his king. Likewise, the hunters who saw that the hundredth tiger wasn't dead, was afraid to tell the king about it because he feared losing his job. Lastly, the Shopkeeper who sold the toy tiger to the king quoted a higher price for it fearing that the King would punish him under the rule of emergency. So, it's evident that the Kin's minions were entirely driven by fear and not obedience as a mark of respect.
Today’s political order is no different. The subordinates serve their superior bosses as deaf and dumb creatures who see only what their masters want them to see. Their self-interests and fear of elimination make them faithful servants.
Q4. Can you relate instances of game-hunting among the rich and the powerful in the present times that illustrate the callousness of human beings towards wildlife?
Ans. In present times, big game-hunting has been banned by law as so many species of wildlife have been declared endangered species. National parks, Sanctuaries, and game reserves have been established to preserve wildlife from extinction and maintain ecological balance in nature. Even then there have been some rare instances of game-hunting in the present times. It is usually noticed that the erstwhile rulers—kings or nawabs of the rich & powerful persons or famous film stars indulge in game-hunting. The cases against Salman Khan and late M.A.K. Pataudi is still pending in courts. Poachers and smugglers too destroy wildlife for meat, skin, or for various organs of the body and escape scot-free.
Q5. We need a new system for the age of ecology—a system that is embedded in the care of all people and also in the care of the Earth and all life upon it. Discuss.
Ans. We all are well aware of the exploitations being done to nature. Humans have gone so far in exploiting it to the core that all the other species residing with us in coordination are being harmed. Besides, it's getting worse with each passing day. Hence, we need a new system of ecology, it should focus on the care of all living beings on the Earth as well as the Earth itself. Steps should be taken to conserve ecological balance in nature and prevent environmental pollution. Unpolluted water, air, and food can make all living beings healthy and enable them to enjoy longer lives.
Also Read: The Tiger King Previous Year Questions
