Select the correct option from those given in brackets to fill in the blank. The last line of the extract refl

Question

Q. Select the correct option from those given in brackets to fill in the blank. The last line of the extract reflects __________ attitude of the British officers. (an oppressive/a courageous) (The Tiger King)

CBSECBSE Class XII Board 2025MCQ· 1mImportance★★★★★

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Concept understanding — Colonial Power Dynamics

Let’s start with something you already know. Imagine a school where the senior students make all the rules — what games are allowed, what language is spoken in the corridor, who gets to use the library first. The juniors have to follow, even if they don’t agree. Over time, the juniors start to believe that the seniors’ way is the only way. That’s a tiny, everyday version of what we call power dynamics — an unequal relationship where one side has the authority to shape the lives of the other.

Now scale that up to entire countries, continents, and centuries. That is colonial power dynamics.

The precise meaning

Colonial power dynamics refers to the system of unequal control that a colonising country (like Britain, France, or Portugal) exercised over a colonised territory (like India, Nigeria, or Indonesia). It wasn’t just about military conquest or collecting taxes. It was a deep, structural imbalance that touched every part of life — economy, culture, education, law, and even how people thought about themselves.

The NCERT textbook for Class 12 History (Themes in Indian History, Part III) explains this clearly in the context of British rule in India. It shows how the British didn’t just rule India — they reordered Indian society to serve their own interests. The power was not merely political; it was economic (draining wealth, destroying local industries), administrative (imposing new laws and land revenue systems), and cultural (promoting English education, undermining Indian languages and traditions).

Important

Colonial power dynamics is not a one-time event. It is a continuous, structural relationship where the coloniser sets the rules, defines what is “modern” or “backward,” and extracts resources — both material and intellectual — from the colonised. The colonised are made to feel inferior, even as they resist.

Why it matters for a commerce/humanities student

You might think: “I’m studying business or political science — why does this matter?” Here’s why.

For commerce students: The global economy we live in today was shaped by colonialism. The reason some countries are rich and others are poor is not just about “hard work” or “innovation.” It is about centuries of unequal trade, forced labour, and resource extraction. When you study international trade, supply chains, or development economics, you are looking at the aftermath of colonial power dynamics. The patterns of who exports raw materials and who manufactures finished goods were set during colonial times.
For humanities students: Colonial power dynamics is the foundation of modern political borders, legal systems, and even the languages we use in government. It explains why English is the language of India’s higher courts, why many African countries have French as an official language, and why the map of the Middle East looks the way it does. It also explains the roots of many contemporary conflicts — ethnic tensions, economic inequality, and cultural identity struggles.

Key features of colonial power dynamics (as NCERT presents them)

Economic exploitation: The colony’s resources (cotton, tea, indigo, minerals) were taken to fuel the coloniser’s industries. The colony was forced to buy finished goods from the coloniser. This is called the drain of wealth — a term you will encounter in your economics or history syllabus.
Administrative control: The coloniser imposed new systems of land revenue (like the Permanent Settlement in Bengal), new courts, and new laws. These were designed to make governance easier for the coloniser, not to benefit the local population. …

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The British officers' demand for a tiger hunt—or a hefty bribe—to avoid disfavour reveals their exploitative use of power over the Maharaja. The answer is an oppressive attitude.

The question asks us to identify the nature of the British officers' behaviour in The Tiger King, specifically in the episode where they visit the Maharaja's state and demand permission to hunt tigers.

Understanding the context is essential here. The Maharaja has taken a vow to kill a hundred tigers to defy the astrologer's prophecy that the hundredth tiger will cause his death. He jealously guards every tiger in his kingdom because each one is precious to his survival. When a high-ranking British officer expresses a desire to hunt a tiger in his state, the Maharaja faces a dilemma: refuse and risk political disfavour (the British could dethrone him), or allow it and lose a tiger from his count.

The Maharaja refuses the hunt. In response, the British officer's aide suggests a "compromise": the officer will merely pose with a dead tiger the Maharaja has already killed, for a photograph. But this favour comes at a price—the Maharaja must send expensive gifts (diamond rings worth three lakh rupees) to the officer's wife to avoid being stripped of his kingdom.

Now we evaluate the two options:

A courageous attitude would imply the British officers acted with bravery, moral strength, or admirable boldness. Nothing in their behaviour suggests courage—they are not standing up for a principle or facing danger. Instead, they are leveraging their colonial authority to extract personal gain. …

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Same / Similar Concept — real previous-year questions on the same or a closely similar concept, not this exact question.

CBSE 2025Set 1/4/11 markMCQ
$Q. Select the correct option from those given in brackets to fill in the blank. The last line of the extract reflects __________ attitude of the British officers. (an oppressive/a courageous) (The Tiger King)$
›Reveal solutionSolution
The British officers' demand for a tiger hunt—or a hefty bribe—to avoid disfavour reveals their exploitative use of power over the Maharaja. The answer is an oppressive attitude.

The question asks us to identify the nature of the British officers' behaviour in The Tiger King, specifically in the episode where they visit the Maharaja's state and demand permission to hunt tigers.

Understanding the context is essential here. The Maharaja has taken a vow to kill a hundred tigers to defy the astrologer's prophecy that the hundredth tiger will cause his death. He jealously guards every tiger in his kingdom because each one is precious to his survival. When a high-ranking British officer expresses a desire to hunt a tiger in his state, the Maharaja faces a dilemma: refuse and risk political disfavour (the British could dethrone him), or allow it and lose a tiger from his count.

The Maharaja refuses the hunt. In response, the British officer's aide suggests a "compromise": the officer will merely pose with a dead tiger the Maharaja has already killed, for a photograph. But this favour comes at a price—the Maharaja must send expensive gifts (diamond rings worth three lakh rupees) to the officer's wife to avoid being stripped of his kingdom.

Now we evaluate the two options:

A courageous attitude would imply the British officers acted with bravery, moral strength, or admirable boldness. Nothing in their behaviour suggests courage—they are not standing up for a principle or facing danger. Instead, they are leveraging their colonial authority to extract personal gain. …
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CBSE 2025Set 1/6/11 mark
$Q. Complete the following suitably: The passage indicates that the British officer visited Pratibandapuram because __________. (The Tiger King)$
›Reveal solutionSolution
The British officer visited Pratibandapuram because he wished to hunt a tiger there, a common pastime for British officials in colonial India.

The passage from "The Tiger King" highlights a clash of wills and priorities between the Maharaja and a high-ranking British officer. To understand why the officer visited, we need to recall the context of British colonial rule in India and the Maharaja's personal obsession. British officers often engaged in big-game hunting, particularly tiger hunting, as a sport and a symbol of their power and prestige. The Maharaja, on the other hand, had made a solemn vow to kill one hundred tigers to disprove a prophecy. This created a direct conflict when the officer expressed his desire to hunt in Pratibandapuram.

Here is a step-by-step explanation:

British Hunting Practices: During the British Raj, hunting big game, especially tigers, was a popular and prestigious activity among British officials. It was seen as a sport, a display of bravery, and a way to assert dominance over the Indian landscape and its wildlife. Many officers sought opportunities to hunt in various princely states.

Officer's Specific Desire: The British officer, referred to as a 'durai' or 'sahib', heard about the tigers in Pratibandapuram and expressed a keen interest in hunting one there. His visit was primarily motivated by this desire to participate in a tiger hunt within the Maharaja's territory.

Maharaja's Refusal: The Maharaja, known as the Tiger King, had a strict policy against anyone else hunting tigers in his kingdom. This was not out of conservation efforts, but purely because he needed to kill all the tigers himself to fulfill his vow of slaying one hundred tigers. He had already killed seventy and could not afford to let anyone else diminish the remaining population. …
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Q.Select the correct option from those given in brackets to fill in the blank. The last line of the extract reflects __________ attitude of the British officers. (an oppressive/a courageous) (The Tiger King)

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