NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 2 “The Tiger King” provide detailed, precise, and easy-to-understand answers to all textbook questions. This complete study guide covers Read and Find Out and Reading with Insight. Be sure to read The Tiger King Summary to grasp Kalki’s satirical look at royal vanity, fate, and ecological conservation more effectively!
The Tiger King Class 12 Question Answers
Read and find out questions
Q.1. Who is the Tiger King? Why does he get that name? (p. 8)
Ans. The Tiger King is the Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, Sir Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur. His full title is very long, so it is often shortened to “the Tiger King”. He got the name because he vowed to kill a hundred tigers, and he went on to kill ninety-nine of them. Also, the astrologers had predicted at his birth that he would die by a tiger. He responded with the cry “Let tigers beware!”
Q.2. What did the royal infant grow up to be? (p. 10)
Ans. He grew up to be a tall, strong and fearless man. He was raised in the English style, with an English nanny, an English tutor and English films, like all other crown princes. At twenty he took charge of the state and became an obsessed tiger hunter, determined to kill a hundred tigers and so defeat the astrologers’ prediction.
Q.3. What will the Maharaja do to find the required number of tigers to kill? (p. 13)
Ans. Tigers had become extinct in his own state after he killed seventy of them, so he decided to marry a princess from a state with a large tiger population. The dewan found such a girl. On each visit to his father-in-law, the Maharaja killed five or six tigers, and in this way he brought his total to ninety-nine.
Q.4. How will the Maharaja prepare himself for the hundredth tiger which was supposed to decide his fate? (p. 14)
Ans. He became extremely anxious and thought of nothing else, day and night. He remembered the astrologer’s warning to “beware of the hundredth”. He planned to be very careful with it. When sheep began to disappear from a hillside village, he gave the village a three-year tax exemption and set out to hunt, determined not to leave the forest until the tiger was found. As the search dragged on, his rage grew, and he dismissed officers and even ordered the land tax to be doubled.
Q.5. What will now happen to the astrologer? Do you think the prophecy was indisputably disproved? (p. 15)
Ans. The astrologer had promised to tear up and burn his books and become an insurance agent if the hundredth tiger were killed. The Maharaja believed he had killed it, so the astrologer seemed to be in trouble. But the prophecy was not disproved. The hunters found that the Maharaja’s bullet had missed, and that the tiger had only fainted. They shot it dead to protect their jobs. So the Maharaja did not kill the hundredth tiger himself. Later, a wooden tiger, a toy, caused his death, which matched the prediction that he would die because of a tiger. The prophecy therefore came true in an unexpected way.
Reading with Insight (p. 17)
Q.1. 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. Dramatic irony occurs when the reader knows more than the character does. Kalki uses it throughout:
- The hundredth tiger: The reader knows that the tiger was old, tame and brought by the dewan from the Madras People’s Park, and that the Maharaja’s shot missed it. The Maharaja believes he has fulfilled his vow, and he celebrates his “victory” with great pride.
- The astrologer’s prophecy: The Maharaja thinks he has defeated fate by killing the hundredth tiger, but the reader senses that fate is not over.
- The wooden tiger: The Maharaja, who has killed a hundred tigers, is killed by a tiny wooden toy tiger bought for two annas and a quarter, which the shopkeeper sold for three hundred rupees. The Tiger King, who could not be defeated by real tigers, dies of a splinter.
- The surgeons’ announcement: “The operation was successful. The Maharaja is dead,” is a sharp irony.
The irony exposes the foolish pride, vanity and false power of the Maharaja, and shows that no one can escape destiny.
Q.2. What is the author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to the willfulness of human beings?
Ans. Kalki criticises the senseless killing of animals for the sake of a ruler’s ego and vow:
- The Maharaja kills ninety-nine tigers only to prove the astrologers wrong, and not out of need or self-defence.
- Tigers are almost wiped out from the state, and the story jokes that they might have “committed harakiri” or “ran away”.
- The state bans all other people from hunting tigers, so the Maharaja treats wildlife as his private property.
- Even the last tiger is a tame, helpless animal that is dragged to the forest and then shot while it stands “in humble supplication”. It dies twice, first from fear and then from the hunter’s bullet.
- The tiger’s “revenge” at the end, through a wooden toy, suggests that nature takes its toll on cruelty and arrogance.
The author is saying that the wild is not human property, and that cruelty and greed against animals harm human beings too.
Q.3. 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 minions are flatterers and yes-men who obey out of fear and self-interest, not sincerity.
- The dewan is terrified of the Maharaja (“Your Majesty! I am not a tiger!”). He does not dare to oppose the order to double the tax, and he secretly hides a tiger and brings it to the forest to save his job.
- The hunters fake the tiger’s death because they fear losing their jobs.
- The astrologer changes his words to please the king.
- The shopkeeper charges three hundred rupees for a toy worth two annas and a quarter, because he fears punishment.
- Officers lose their jobs, and the people are punished by heavy taxes whenever the king is angry.
Today’s political order: Similar situations exist in some places. Officials and aides flatter leaders, hide the truth, and manipulate facts to keep their jobs or win favour. Fear and self-interest can silence honest advice, as when “yes-men” hide bad news from those in power. A good leader should welcome honest opinion, and officials should have the courage to tell the truth.
Q.4. 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.
- Poaching of tigers, rhinos, elephants and other animals for skins, horns, ivory and trophies, often to satisfy the demand of wealthy buyers.
- Trophy hunting abroad, where rich tourists pay to shoot lions, elephants and other animals (for example, the killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe in 2015 caused worldwide anger).
- In India, the blackbuck case, in which a famous film actor was accused of hunting protected blackbucks, was widely discussed. Hunting by royalty and the elite in the past nearly wiped out Indian tigers and cheetahs. The cheetah became extinct in India and was reintroduced only recently from Africa.
- Illegal wildlife trade in furs, exotic pets and animal parts.
Result: Many species are now endangered. Laws like the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, Project Tiger and national parks have been introduced to protect them, but strict enforcement and awareness are still needed.
Q.5. We need a new system for the age of ecology, a system which is embedded in the care of all people and also in the care of the Earth and all life upon it. Discuss.
Ans. Points for discussion:
- Human beings are part of nature and depend on it for air, water, food and climate. Destroying forests and wildlife harms our own survival. The Tiger King’s destruction of tigers brought only his own ruin.
- The present system is largely based on greed, exploitation and short-term profit, which leads to deforestation, pollution, climate change and the loss of species.
- A new system should combine social justice (care for all people, especially the poor) with ecological care (protecting the Earth and all life). The two cannot be separated, because the poor suffer most when the environment is damaged.
- This can include sustainable development, renewable energy, conservation of forests and wildlife, and responsible consumption. It also needs strong laws, education and public participation, and a change in values, so that we see ourselves as trustees of the Earth and not its masters.
- Ideas such as “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (the world is one family) and Gandhi’s remark that the Earth has enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed support this vision.
- Individuals can contribute by saving water and energy, planting trees, avoiding plastic and supporting wildlife protection.
Conclusion: The age of ecology demands a system of compassion and balance, where progress does not come at the cost of the Earth or of weaker living beings.
