Class 12 English Chapter 17 The Tiger King Question Answer to each chapter is provided in the list so that you can easily browse through different chapters Assam Board Class 12 English Chapter 17 The Tiger King and select needs one.
Class 12 English Chapter 17 The Tiger King
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The Tiger King
Lesson – 17
VISTAS (SUPPLEMENTARY)
| READ AND FIND OUT |
Page No – 8
1. Who is the Tiger King? Why does he get that name?
Ans: The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, famously known as the Tiger King, had an unusual fate predicted at birth. Astrologers foretold that he would meet his end one day, and to their amazement, the ten-day-old prince questioned how he would die. The chief astrologer revealed that a tiger would be responsible. Undeterred, the prince fearlessly proclaimed, “Let tigers beware!” To challenge destiny, he resolved to hunt down a hundred tigers, thus earning the title of the Tiger King.
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Page No – 10
1. What did the royal infant grow up to be?
Ans: The royal newborn grew up to become the king of Pratibandapuram, obsessed with killing a hundred tigers to defy the prophecy of his death. He wiped out all the tigers in his kingdom and even married for the sake of his mission. This relentless pursuit earned him the title Tiger King.
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Page No – 13
1. What will the Maharaja do to find the required number of tigers to kill?
Ans: Within ten years, the Maharaja had killed seventy tigers, leading to their extinction in Pratibandapuram. Realizing that thirty more tigers remained to fulfill his goal, he summoned the dewan, who trembled with fear. The Maharaja then announced his decision to marry and ordered the dewan to find a princess from a state with a large tiger population. The plan was executed, and the dewan found a suitable bride. Each time the Maharaja visited his father-in-law, he hunted five or six tigers, eventually reaching ninety-nine kills.
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Page No – 14
1. How will the Maharaja prepare himself for the hundredth tiger which was supposed to decide his fate?
Ans: The king found it difficult to get the hundredth tiger killed. The dewan realised the seriousness of the situation and made the arrangement. A tiger had been brought from the People’s Park in madras. It was left in the forest where the king was hunting. The king took careful aim at the tiger and shot it. But he did not know that he missed the target.
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Page No – 15
1. What will now happen to the astrologer? Do you think the prophecy was indisputably disproved?
Ans: The dewan arranged an old tiger from Madras and placed it before the Maharaja. The king shot at it, believing he had killed the hundredth tiger. However, the tiger had only fainted, and the hunters secretly killed it to hide the truth. The prophecy was not disproved, as the king eventually died due to an infection from a wooden tiger. The astrologer was already dead, so he neither faced consequences nor received recognition.
| READING WITH INSIGHT |
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: The story The Tiger King is a satire on the arrogance of those in power. Determined to defy fate, the king sought to alter his destiny. The chief astrologer predicted that he would be killed by a tiger, as he was born under the sign of the Bull, which was symbolically linked to tigers as enemies. However, the king refused to accept this prophecy.
To ensure his survival, he banned tiger hunting for everyone except himself. Anyone harming a tiger, even by throwing a stone, would lose their property. He relentlessly hunted tigers, and after killing the 99th one, he believed he was safe. However, when he shot the hundredth tiger, he unknowingly missed, and another hunter secretly finished the job to conceal the truth. Ironically, despite his efforts, destiny prevailed in an unexpected way: the king was ultimately killed not by a living tiger but by a wooden one. This highlights the futility of power in altering fate.
2. What is the author’s indirect comment on subjecting innocent animals to the willfulness of human beings?
Ans: The author doesn’t comment directly on the indiscriminate killing of innocent animals. But in the indirect way, the writer shows great sympathy towards them. It is for man’s willingness that precious animals have to lose their life.
The Maharaja killed almost all the tigers of Pratibamdarpuram. The tiger population became extinct when he had killed about 70 tigers. He then married a royal girl from such a state which had a large population of tigers. In each visit to his father-in-law’s house he killed 6 or 7 tigers. Thus he managed to kill the 99th tiger. But the hundredth tiger eluded him. At last he was killed by a wooden tiger. The writer also mentioned the cruelty of the British officials who killed such a beautiful creature like a tiger only to get a wild pleasure.
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 Maharaja’s servants were obedient but driven by fear rather than loyalty. Most of them complied with his orders to secure their jobs or even their lives. The astrologer hesitated to predict the Maharaja’s death but was compelled to speak. The dewan, instead of advising against tiger hunting, facilitated the Maharaja’s marriage to a princess from a tiger-rich kingdom. He even arranged an old tiger to satisfy the king, fearing job loss. The hunters, too, hid the truth about the 100th tiger’s survival and killed it secretly to protect their positions. Even the shopkeeper selling a cheap wooden tiger raised its price to avoid penalties under emergency laws.
This reflects a broader reality, even in today’s political system, where many individuals hold power due to influence rather than competence. People often pander to those in authority for personal gain rather than for the greater good.
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: Instances of game-hunting among the rich and the powerful are quite common. Today also, we hear about the killings of rhinos, duro and other animals and birds which are in the way of extinction. Only to get the skin of the tigers, tusk of the elephants, horns of the rhinos, people mercilessly kill animals. The laws are passed to ban those killings. But the laws are unable to touch the rich and the powerful. One-day the news of Salman Khan who is a star of Bollywood comes, killing black bucks. He has killed the bucks just for fun. Only exemplary punishment to poachers and hunters can save innocent wild animals.
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: The world has now lacked the ecological balance that has brought new challenges even to the existence of the world. There has been a constant degradation of the environment. Human beings have become indifferent to nature. But the care of all people includes the care of the earth.
The mountains are our lifeline. They are the places from where rivers flow. Glaciers are shrinking. Water level of the sea rises. Many rare animals, birds, plants, and herbs are going extinct. The depletion of the ozone layer has put the very survival of man at stake. The greenhouse effect has caused global warming. Mankind now has two ways.
They are:
(i) live and life line.
(ii) choose death.
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