2. About the author
Ramaswamy Aiyer Krishnamurthy (1899-1954) was
a Tamil writer, journalist, poet,
critic and Indian independence
activist. His pen name was
‘Kalki’. He was a versatile writer
and had the skill to take the
readers into the times of the
story. He received the Sahitya
Akademi Award posthumously
in 1956.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
3. The story ‘The Tiger King’ is a satire on the
conceit of the rich and powerful kings of
the olden times. It is a comment on the
politicians who put personal gratification
and wish fulfilment above the good of the
masses. Life is transient and pride has a
fall. It is the story about divine retribution.
Moreover, there is a dire need for wildlife’s
conservation.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
4. SUMMARY
The story begins with the introduction of the
Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, popularly
known as the Tiger King.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
5. On the king’s birth, the astrologers predicted
that he would grow up to become a hero and
mighty warrior, but that he would finally die.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
6. To everybody’s surprise,
the ten- day- old prince
started to speak and
demanded to know the
reason of his death.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
O wise prophets!
It was I who spoke .
7. The chief astrologer predicted that the prince
was born in the hour of the Bull and the Bull
and the Tiger were enemies. Hence, death
would come to him from the tiger.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
8. The infant prince showed his royal arrogance
at this.
Let tigers
beware!
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Vikram Singh Nagore
9. The royal child became
taller and stronger.
He grew up in an English
environment – drank milk
of an English cow, looked
after by an English nanny,
taught in English by an
Englishman and watched
English films.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
10. The prince was crowned
at the age of twenty.
Soon he became aware
of the prediction made
at his birth.
He killed the first tiger
and showed it to the
state astrologer.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
11. The astrologer told the Maharaja he could kill
ninety nine tigers but he should be careful with
the hundredth tiger.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
12. The State banned tiger hunting by anyone
except the Maharaja. He met many dangerous
situations but he won every time.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
13. Once the Maharaja
denied permission to
a high-ranking British
officer to hunt tiger
or have a photograph.
The Maharaja stood in
danger of losing his
kingdom.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
14. The Maharaja sent fifty diamond rings, worth
three lakh rupees, to the British officer’s wife,
and managed to retain his kingdom.
Thank you very
much for your gifts.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
15. In ten years, the Maharaja killed seventy tigers.
After that, the tigers became extinct in the
forests of Pratibandapuram.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
16. To continue his mission, the Maharaja married
a princess from a state having a large tiger
population.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
17. The Maharaja shot five or six tigers each time
he visited his father-in-law, and soon he killed
ninety nine tigers.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
18. The Maharaja was feverishly anxious to kill the
hundredth tiger but could not find one, and
became sad.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
19. The news of a tiger’s presence in a village
turned out to be baseless. The angry Maharaja
ordered his Dewan to double the land tax.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
20. Afraid of losing his job, the Dewan brought an
old tiger from the People’s Park in Madras and
dragged it to the forest where the Maharaja
was hunting.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
21. The Maharaja took careful aim and shot the
tiger. Ordering the dead tiger to be brought
in a grand procession, the elated Maharaja
returned to the capital.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
22. The Maharaja thought that he had killed the
hundredth tiger, but actually he had missed
the mark. One of the hunters shot the tiger
dead and brought it in a grand procession.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
23. The Maharaja now turned his attention to his
son. He gifted a wooden toy tiger to his son
on his third birthday.
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24. The wooden toy tiger was poorly carved.
While playing with the prince, one of the
wooden slivers pierced into the Maharaja’s
right hand.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
25. Next day, the infection
spread into his hand.
Three surgeons from
Madras operated him
but failed to save the
Maharaja’s life.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
26. In this manner the
fateful hundredth tiger,
though a wooden one,
was the cause of the
Maharaja’s death and
proved the prediction of
the astrologer correct.
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Vikram Singh Nagore
