TIGER KING - NOTES

THEME:
 ‘The Tiger King’ is a satirical exemplification of the pride and stubbornness of
those in power. It is a mockery of the conduct of the people in power.
 It is found that most of the time, the rulers are not interested and bothered about
working for public welfare. Rather, they spend their time on leisure things.
 The writer takes us to the days of autocratic and eccentric kings. Most of the time
the rulers were not interested in serving the people and working for the welfare of
the public; instead, they spent their time in foolish pursuits. They distorted and
bent all laws to suit their selfish interests.
 It presents an indirect angle on subjecting innocent animals to the wilfulness of
human beings, and their treatment is completely subjected to the whims of
humans.
 It also evokes a subtle direction at the fact that the destiny is inevitable and one
cannot escape from it whatsoever attempts one may make.

EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF THEME:

 In this Part 3 it is quite evident that The Maharaja would do anything according to
his whims, he proclaimed that no one would even throw a stone at the tiger, for he
will only hunt the tigers, otherwise he would confiscate their assets, the king acted
unfairly and in an eccentric manner. He was keeping his interests supreme. The
king wasn’t concerned about the welfare of his subjects.
 The King in order to fulfill his wishes and wants first decided that all other matters,
of any degree of importance, would be attended to later. It shows the negligence to
the public meted out by those in power.
 At that period of time, each kingdom was falling prey to the British Colonial
Administration, when the British official wanted to hunt tigers, this request was
also denied, the king kept the affairs of state at low cost than his wishes.
 So just to correct the situation he sends Officer’s wife expensive rings, again costing
the kingdom three lakhs. He could have agreed to a basic request of having a
photograph with the tiger.
 These acts of Maharaja show his negligent and selfish attitude to his kingdom and
his responsibilities as the King. The Story is a perfect mockery of the attitude of
those in power.
 We can also note, that the lives of peaceful animals were unnecessarily affected by
the King, just on a basis of prophecy. The lives of animals were not at all considered
by the King. Animal importance*

INSTANCES OF SATIRE
 Satire employs irony, sarcasm, ridicule, etc. in exposing and criticizing follies and
vices in men. The story uses humor to criticize self-seeking Kings who willfully
exploit both nature and their subjects for selfish interests.
 When the Maharaja of Pratibandhpuram was told that he would be killed by a tiger,
he could never imagine the twist in fate where a toy tiger could be fatal. Because of
his conceit, he was unprepared for such surprises flung by life at him.
 The grandeur associated with a king’s life proves a mockery. The news of the king’s
ailment invited not one, but three surgeons. They got so tied up in technicalities
that they declared the operation successful even though the king died.
  The story also satirizes the corrupting influence of power. Just because the Tiger
King had power, he felt he could browbeat his subjects and even defeat fate. He
neglected his responsibility as a ruler. He neglected the welfare of his subjects, his
family, increased and reduced taxes at will, and sacked his officers. They feared
him or else he would have learned the truth.
 When we see the king gloating over his bravery after killing the hundredth old,
weak tiger, we notice that Kalki is satirizing the notions of cowardice and bravery.
There is no heroism in fighting an unequal battle. The King’s cowardice was
obvious when he justifies that one may kill even a cow in self-defense.
 Kalki is also criticizing the King’s men and subjects who pander to his whims out
of fear or like the shopkeeper manipulate and fool him.

WHAT IS THE AUTHOR’S INDIRECT COMMENT ON SUBJECTING

INNOCENT ANIMALS TO THE WILLFULNESS OF HUMAN BEINGS?

Ans. Through this satirical story, the author has rightly portrayed how human
beings have subjected innocent animals to untold torture and death, merely to fulfil
their own whims and fancies. The maharaja’s indiscriminate killing of tigers led to
their extinction in some states, but the maharaja was oblivious to the grave
consequences his action was leading to. In order to prove an astrologer wrong, the
maharaja went on a killing spree proving his dominance over the hapless animals.

SETTING
 The story is set in a small Princely state called Pratibandapuram whose King is His
Highness Jamedar-General, Khiledar-Major, Sata Vyaghra Samhari,
Maharajadhiraja Visva Bhuvana Samrat, Sir Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur, M.A.D.,
A.C.T.C., or C.R.C.K. Shortened to Tiger King.
 The story is set in Pre Independent India, as the influence of British Officers is quite
evident.
 Before Independence Princely states were ruled by local rulers under the overall
control of the British Monarchy.
 The period is somewhat between the 1920s to 1940s.

JUSTIFICATION OF TITLE
 “The Tiger King” is a very appropriate title for the story for several reasons. First of
all, the king is crazy about tiger hunting so much that he marries a princess whose
father’s kingdom has a sizeable tiger population. He kills one hundred tigers just
to fulfill his vow. Secondly, the king with all his frenzy, anger, and ruthlessness is
as ferocious as a tiger. Thirdly, he dies of a silver prick received from a wooden toy
tiger. Finally, the prediction that a tiger would cause the king’s death also comes
true. Since the story revolves around the king and the hundred tigers that he kills,
it could not be better titled than “The Tiger King”.

COMMENTS
 The tiger king is a story of eccentric kings dominating their subjects but living
under the fear of the Britishers. The author has given a tinge of the supernatural
interspersed in the story. Arrogant Tiger King desired to disprove the prophecy of
the astrologer, but destiny proved to be powerful and the prediction which was
made when the king was ten days old comes out to be true.
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