Important Questions And Their Answers

Q – Do you think the shopkeeper depicted a good understanding of

human nature?

• Yes, the shopkeeper knew that Maharaja liked the toy but he also knew
that if the actual worth of the toy were told to him, he would feel
insulted and think it below his status to buy such a cheap gift for his son
• He knew that people in power think that to like anything below their
standard would reduce their level
• Quite smartly the shopkeeper quoted a much higher price, calling the
toy ,a rare piece of craftsmanship
• The trick helped as it appealed to the ego of the king to have found
something exclusive for his son
Q – The operation is successful but the Maharaja is dead

The incident is a satire on the life of rich and powerful.

Everything in their life is grand – be it disease,
purchases or treatment. So when the Maharaja was hurt
by the wooden tiger, special surgeons were flown
from Madras to treat him. They discussed, debated and
operated and at the end declared that the operation
was successful and the Maharaja was dead.
It appeared that the procedure was more important to
them and life had no meaning. Their actual job was
not highlight the technical excellence of the surgical
procedure but to save the kings life. However it is as if
by divine justice that the tiger king was reduced to non-
entity whose life was of no importance to anyone.
Character Sketch of The Tiger King

• Typical example of a whimsical and Autocratic royalty in pre-independence

time
• Dominated by British rules and exercised all his domination on his subjects
• Full of the instinct of Self preservation, conceit and motivated only by selfish
interest
• Illogical and irrational in his decisions to kill tigers mindlessly, and callously
under the garb of self defence –
• wipes out 99 tigers in his own and his father in law's state put together –
leads to the extinction of tigers
• Arrogant from the time of birth (Let tigers beware!)
• Capricious/Whimsical
• Seen in his first excusing land taxes and later doubling them
• Also seen in the way he vents out his frustration on not finding a tiger by
asking the Dewan to resign.
• on
• Pampered upbringing – English way of Life
• He actually fears his death and so he kills tigers without
provocation
• His character is symbolic – Through him Kalki, satirises and
criticizes all those who misuse their power andposition to fulfil
their vested interest
• Even marriage is a business proposition for him
• He manipulates it to serve his own end
• He is not a man of Ethics and values and suffered from the
misconception that he was invincible.
-
The Dewan of Pratibundpuram proved to be very resourceful

• The king was in the danger of losing his kingdom due to having refused
permissions for Tiger hunting to the British Officer.
• The Dewan came to his rescue by suggesting that he should present
some unique jewellery to the Duraisini
• When the maharaja wanted to het married, it was the Dewan who
found the right state with the right population of tigers and the right
girl
• In another incident, when the hunt for the 100th tiger had frustrated
the king to an extent that he doubled the land taxes, it was the Dewan
who advised him as it would jeopardize the state’s interest. The Dewan
of Pratibundpuram proved to be very resourceful
• The Dewan plays a very important role in the legendary story of the
tiger king, it ill the tiger king came of age.
• The Dewan looked after the state and continued to do so when the
Maharaja was killing tigers
 Finally when his job was at stake he managed to manipulate the
presence of the 100th tiger and placed him
 at a strategic on for the king to have an easy access to it
 When the king missed killing the tiger, the Dewan chose to keep
Quiet and by doing so he saved many people from the wrath of
the king and from losing their jobs.
Assignment