THE TIGER KING BY KALKI CLASS 12 VISTAS

THE TIGER KING BY KALKI CLASS 12 (VISTAS) PREPARED BY SAMITA DAS (PGT ENGLISH) K. V. OFN RAJGIR

ABOUT THE AUTHOR • Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy (9 September, 1899 – 5 December 1954) was born in Chennai. • He was better known by his pen name Kalki. • He was a Tamil writer, journalist , poet, critic, and Indian independence activist. • He wrote over 120 short stories, 10 novellas, 5 novels, 3 historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews. • He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Alai Osai.

OVERVIEW • The story ‘The Tiger King’ is a satire. • The king is typical of those who misuse power for their own advantage. • It also throws light on the political situation which is relevant even today where the king is supported by his nobles no matter what he says or does. • The whimsical and mindless nature of those in power is shown through the killing of the hundred tigers which was done just to avoid the king’s death. • Though being born into a royal family and getting good education, the king was foolish enough to believe in astrology and also to think that he could avoid death.

LESSON IN GIST • Birth of the Tiger King The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram rumoured to have spoken when of ten days old – a great miracle The astrologers’ prophecy that a tiger will cause the Maharaja’s death, as he was born in the hour of the Bull • The Maharaja’s education & coronation Effect of British domination on the education of princes, the Maharaja no exception – English education and English upbringing – “drank the milk of an English cow, was brought up by an English nanny, tutored in English by an Englishman, saw nothing but English films” He was crowned at the age of twenty

LESSON IN GIST • Hunting the first tiger and challenging destiny The prince became brave but arrogant as he grew up – as stories of his foretold death resurfaced, he killed his first tiger to show his superiority and rebellion against fate He called upon the state astrologer – was informed of his danger from the hundredth tiger even if he killed ninety-nine – decided to kill at least 100 tigers as a challenge against his destiny • Getting obsessed with tigers The sole aim of Maharaja’s life became tiger hunting – the obsession led him issue an order that nobody except he himself could harm any tiger in his estate in any way, otherwise he would confiscate that offender’s wealth and property – he neglected his duties of being a king, to achieve his aim

LESSON IN GIST • Saving the estate from the British The Maharaja denied a British official (durai) to tiger-hunt in his estate – he even refused the durai’s request to click a photograph with a tiger killed by the Maharaja – then he sent a present of fifty diamond rings bought from a Calcutta jeweller to the British official’s wife (duraisani) to save his estate from the British wrath – instead of choosing one or two rings the duraisani kept all fifty and the Maharaja had to bear an expense of three lakh rupees. • Extinction of tigers After ten years and death of seventy tigers at the hands of Maharaja, the forests of Pratibandapuram was left with no more tigers.

LESSON IN GIST • Getting tigers through matrimony As his own estate had no more tigers, Maharaja decided to get married to a princess of that state which had the maximum tigers – with every visit to his father-in-law’s house, he would kill five or six tigers – soon he killed ninety-nine tigers but couldn’t find the last one as tigers had become extinct there too. • Looking for the hundredth tiger The search and wait for the hundredth tiger made the Maharaja impatient – reports of disappearance of sheep from a village made the Maharaja think speculate the presence of a tiger there and led him to exempt the village from all taxes for three years. However, no tiger could be found in the village in the expedition that followed – the Maharaja, in his anger, fired some of his officials and doubled the tax of the villagers. He evenasked the Dewan to resign when he tried to reason with the Maharaja.

LESSON IN GIST • The hundredth tiger found by the Dewan! The dewan, afraid of being fired from his job, devised a plan. He got a tiger from the People’s Park in Madras and very cunningly and secretly left it in the forest where the expedition was going on. The tiger was spotted by the Maharaja and shot at directly and it fell down • The Maharaja’s misconception The tiger thought of ‘killed’ by the Maharaja had actually fainted from the shock of the bullet whizzing past it, as the bullet had missed the target. Realising this, the hunters killed it themselves, in fear of losing their jobs, and carried it in a grand procession through the town and buried it. A tomb was also erected over it.

LESSON IN GIST • The hundredth tiger’s revenge! The Maharaja, unaware of what had happened, quit hunting after his ‘hundredth’ kill. After a few days it was the third birthday of the Maharaja’s son. Since he had not paid attention to anything else other than hunting tigers till then, not even to his own son, the Maharaja decided to buy a special gift for his son on his birthday – he spotted a ‘wooden tiger’ in a shopping centre toyshop and gifted that to his son – the tiger was of poor craftsmanship, it had tiny wood slivers on its rough wooden surface – while playing with his son one day, a tiny wood sliver pierced his right hand within a few days he died of infection from that – the ‘hundredth tiger’ had finally taken its revenge upon the Tiger King!

THEME - SATIRE • What is a satire? The satire is a genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices (evils), follies (foolish acts), abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, corporations, government, or society itself, into improvement. • Types of satire IRONY – A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often mockingly amusing as a result PARODY – A parody, also called a spoof, is used to make fun or mock someone or something by imitating them in a funny way. SARCASM – It is a sharp or cutting statement like a taunt, or jibe, meant to really drive a point home.

THEME - SATIRE • The lesson is full of irony which brings out the follies of autocratic and wilful rulers who can disregard all laws and bend them to suit their selfish interests. • The dramatic irony in the story is sharp when the Tiger King relishes his killing of the ‘hundredth’ tiger while the other characters and the readers anticipate his doom as he is unaware of the reality. • The King had wanted to prove the astrologers wrong and to save his life. However, in avoiding his death he actually invites it. • The use of lofty titles for the Tiger King, symbolic of an invincible ferocity of the Maharaja, prove ironic too, for he is finally killed by a cheap, crudely made wooden toy tiger which became the tool of Nature’s revenge. • Irony is also sharp when the surgeons announce the operation successful and declare the king dead.

CHARACTER SKETCH • The Tiger King or the Maharaja : The Tiger King is self-centred, egoistic, whimsical and irrational. He symbolises a ruler who has power and authority, none of which is used by him for the welfare of the state. He behaves like a dictator and his ministers bow before him in fear, supporting him in his mindless pursuits, even in his ruthless killing of tigers. He is whimsical and goes to extremes. For example, when he is happy, there are processions, exemption of taxes, etc. but when he is angry taxes are doubled, punishments become severe. The entire state machinery is misused and manipulated in his pursuit of killing tigers. He seems to be crazy, eccentric and inhumane. He starts killing tigers just to prove the prediction wrong. Though he exhibits his valour by killing tigers, he is very coward at heart and is scared of death. His boldness, cunningness, strength and bravery failed miserably at the hands of an insignificant wooden tiger. He can also be laughed at for his blindly believing the astrologers, forgetting the sanctity and meaning of marriage and for dismissing his officers for no official reason.

CHARACTER SKETCH • The Dewan: The Dewan, king’s chief minister, is the comedian in the story. He is a senior courtier but, in reality, holds no authority. He is well aware of the maharaja’s fury and is always ready to please him. His practical knowledge helped the king to save his kingdom. It was the Dewan’s idea to gift diamond rings to the British officer’s wife to save the estate from the British wrath when the Tiger King refused the British officer to hunt in Pratibandapuram. His efforts to locate and present the hundredth tiger are very comical but also shows his intelligence, though at times the Dewan appears foolish. He knew the tactics well enough to save his job from the king’s anger.

HUMOUR In the story ‘The Tiger King’ the author makes use of the element of humour throughout at various instances: • The introduction of the Tiger King using titles like Jamedar-General, Khiledar-Major, Sata Vyaghra Samhari, Sir Jilani Jung Bahadur, etc. , sounds quite funny to the readers. • When the Maharaja was just ten days old he started speaking to the astrologers in a squeaky voice to correct their prediction of “the child born under this star will one day have to meet its death” saying that it was obvious for everyone, is a ridiculous incident. • The astrologer’s resolve to cut off his tuft of hair and to become an insurance agent if his prediction went wrong is also comic. • The suggestion of the Maharaja to the British officer for ‘mouse hunting’ or ‘mosquito hunting’ instead of tiger hunting is hilarious.

HUMOUR • The conversation between the Maharaja and the Dewan regarding the Maharaja’s marriage was again hilarious as the Dewan mistook the Maharaja’s intention repeatedly and even thought that the king wanted to marry him! He then advised the king to marry the gun but not any tiger. • The killing of the ‘hundredth’ tiger – the way it was brought in the vicinity of king by the Dewan from Madras by making it sit on the backseat of the car, the tiger fainting from the sound of the bullet, was comical. • Finally, the declaration by the three surgeons at the end of the story: “The operation was successful. The Maharaja is dead” is funny indeed.

MESSAGE ‘The Tiger King’ is a satirical story and hence there is a message which the author wants the readers to get from the story. The message is very loud and clear, which is that, a ruler should not misuse his power and authority for his own advantage or fulfilling his wishes but to serve and protect his subjects. The Tiger King is shown as a wilful and irresponsible ruler who never takes care of his subjects but only pays attention to himself. He indiscriminately kills off the tiger population, even leading it to extinction in his own state, never bothering about the grave consequences it might have. The author also brings home the issue of killing of wild animals by humans which is gradually leading these animals towards extinction and creating an ecological imbalance.

ASSIGNMENT 1. Why did the Maharaja ban tiger hunting in the state? 2. When did the Tiger King stand in danger of losing his kingdom? 3. What was the Dewan’s tiger like? How did he take it into the forest? 4. Did the Tiger King shoot the hundredth tiger? Give reasons. 5. How did the Tiger King meet his end? What is ironical about his fate? 6. The astrologer’s prediction about the death of the Tiger King came to be true. Do you agree with this statement? Explain why or why not. 7. What impression do you form about the Tiger King after reading the story? 8. Do you think we, as humans, have the greatest responsibility towards saving and protecting the Earth’s ecology? Why or why not?