The Tiger King by Kalki
Quick answer: The Tiger King by Kalki, CBSE Class 12 Vistas chapter 2: the prophecy, the hundred tigers, the wooden toy tiger, satire on power, characters, themes and exam answers.
A ten-day-old prince speaks from his cradle to ask the astrologers how he will die, and is told that a tiger will kill him; he replies that tigers should beware.
Kalki, the pen name of the Tamil writer R. Krishnamurthy (1899 to 1954), wrote this satire; it is chapter 2 of Class 12 Vistas.
The story in brief
The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur, is warned that the hundredth tiger will be the danger. He bans tiger hunting for everyone but himself and kills seventy in ten years, until his state runs out. He refuses a British officer a hunt and soothes him with fifty diamond rings for the officer's wife, costing three lakh rupees. He marries a princess from a state rich in tigers and shoots several on each visit until he reaches ninety-nine.
The hundredth cannot be found. The Dewan, threatened, smuggles in an old, weak tiger from the People's Park in Madras. The king fires and the tiger collapses, but the bullet has missed; the animal fainted. Hunters kill it quietly and the king celebrates. For his son's third birthday he buys a cheap wooden tiger whose rough surface drives a sliver into his hand. The wound turns septic, three surgeons operate, and the king dies. The hundredth tiger has its revenge.
The people in it
A king and the people who feed his obsession.
- The Tiger King: vain, ruthless, literal-minded, undone by a toy.
- The Dewan: a frightened minister who fakes the last tiger.
- The astrologer: whose prophecy the king spends his life trying to cheat.
- The British officer's wife: greed satisfied with rings.
Themes and meaning
Exam readings include the arrogance of power, the futility of defying fate, and the satire of rulers who serve their own whims. The sharper point is the wooden tiger: the story mocks the king's literalism, since he guards against real tigers and dies of a badly carved one.
The craft: a prophecy as a countdown
The number gives the story its shape. Every tiger is a tick toward one hundred, and the reader knows the count better than the king. The turn is the fainting tiger, where the count becomes a lie; the wooden toy delivers the truth. Writers can steal the countdown structure and the trick of fulfilling a prophecy through its most trivial possible reading.
For the exam
Quick material for the Class 12 exam.
- Word meanings: prophecy, prediction; indomitable, unconquerable; enraged, made furious; lakh, one hundred thousand; septic, infected; caveat, warning.
- Character sketch of the Tiger King in 60 words: Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur, Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, hears as an infant that a tiger will kill him and devotes his reign to killing a hundred tigers first. Arrogant and self-serving, he bribes an officer's wife with diamond rings, marries for tigers, and threatens his Dewan. He believes his tally complete, but a sliver from a wooden tiger kills him.
- Q: How did the king deal with the British officer? A: He refused him a hunt but sent fifty diamond rings to the officer's wife, costing three lakh rupees.
- Q: What went wrong with the hundredth tiger? A: The king's bullet missed; the old tiger merely fainted, and the hunters killed it secretly.
- Q: How did the prophecy come true? A: A sliver from a cheap wooden toy tiger infected his hand and he died after surgery.
- Summary in 100 words: Astrologers predict that the Maharaja of Pratibandapuram will be killed by a tiger, the hundredth in particular. He bans tiger hunting for others and kills seventy in his own state, bribes a British officer's wife with fifty diamond rings, and marries a princess from a tiger-rich state to reach ninety-nine. The hundredth, an old tiger smuggled by the Dewan, faints when the king fires and misses; hunters kill it quietly. Believing himself safe, the king buys his son a cheap wooden tiger. A sliver from it infects his hand, three surgeons fail, and the king dies of the hundredth tiger.
What writers can take from this
- Track the numbers in your answer: seventy tigers, fifty rings, three lakh, ninety-nine, one hundred.
- State clearly that the hundredth tiger was not killed by the king; the missed shot is the plot's hinge.
- Name the satire's targets: royal vanity, bribery, and officials who lie to survive.
- Writers, use a countdown to shape a story and let the reader keep score.
- Fulfil your prophecy through its most trivial reading; the wooden tiger is the model.
Try it yourself
Write a satirical story about a powerful person who spends their life defeating a prophecy by the most literal means, and dies of the prophecy's most trivial possible form. Keep a visible count that the reader tracks better than the character.
Questions
What is the theme of The Tiger King?
The story satirises the arrogance of rulers who bend a state to their private obsessions and shows the futility of trying to cheat fate. The Maharaja kills tigers to defeat a prophecy and dies of a wooden toy tiger's sliver.
How does the Tiger King die?
He buys a cheap wooden tiger for his son's third birthday; a sliver from its rough surface pierces his hand, the wound turns septic, and he dies despite an operation by three surgeons.
Why did the Maharaja marry a princess from another state?
His own state had run out of tigers after he killed seventy. He chose a bride from a state with a large tiger population so he could hunt there on visits and reach his hundred.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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