List of The Jungle Book characters

This is a list of characters that appear in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book story collection, its sequel The Second Jungle Book, and the various film adaptations based on those books. Characters include both human and talking animal characters.

Mowgli's adventures

• Mowgli (feral child)
• Jungle characters
  • Akela# (Indian Wolf), "alone" in Hindi; leader of the wolf pack
  • Raksha# (Indian Wolf), "protection" in Hindi; Mowgli's adoptive mother
  • Father Wolf (Indian Wolf); Raksha's mate and Mowgli's adoptive father. The 1967 film names him "Rama," meaning "pleasant, supreme."
  • Baloo# (Sloth Bear); Mowgli's best friend. In Kipling's book, he is described as a sleepy old sloth bear, who teaches Mowgli the law of the jungle. Bhaaloo (Devanagari: भालू) is "bear" in Hindi.
  • Bagheera# (melanistic leopard known as a black panther); from baagh (Devanagari: बाघ) in Sanskrit or Hindi meaning "tiger"
  • Bandar Log, the Monkeys. Notorious because "they have no king" or any effective leadership at all. They kidnap the very young Mowgli, who is rescued by Bagheera, Baloo and Kaa.
  • Ko (Crow)
  • Kaa (Indian python)
  • Hathi (Indian Elephant); Haathee (Devanagari: हाथी) meaning "elephant" in Hindi
  • Hathi's sons (elephants)
  • Tabaqui (Golden jackal); he feeds on scraps from either Shere Khan or the wolves of the Seeonee Pack. In some variations, he is a hyena.
  • Mang (bat)
  • Shere Khan# (Bengal Tiger); sher (Hindi: शेर, pronounced [ˈʃeːr]) is a word for "lion" in Hindi^[1]
  • Rama (water buffalo)
  • Mysa (water buffalo)
  • Chil (in earlier editions called Rann) (kite); "cheel" means kite in Hindi
  • Ikki (in earlier editions called Sahi < Hindi [ Devanagari ]: साही) (porcupine)
  • Tha (Elephant) The first of the elephants according to Hathi
  • Thuu (aka White Hood) (Cobra) A blind albino Cobra
  • Grey Brother (Indian Wolf); the oldest of Father Wolf and Raksha's cubs
  • Fao (Indian Wolf)
  • Phaona (Indian Wolf)
  • The Dholes
  • Oo (Turtle)
  • Jacala (Crocodile) Is killed by hunters while conversing with Tabaqui.
  • Mor (Peacock)
  • Won-Tolla (Indian Wolf) An outlier who warns Mowgli's tribe of the Dhole
  • Chikai (Rat)
  • Phao (Wolf) Son of Phaona, leader of The Free People
  • Ferao (Woodpecker)

#: From cubs.

• Human characters
  • Messua; wife of the richest man of the human village, who decides to adopt the wild Mowgli, believing he is their long-lost son Nathoo
  • Messua's husband; the richest man of the village
  • Nathoo; the long-lost son of Messua and her husband, who has been snatched by a tiger (arguably, Shere Khan)
  • Buldeo (village hunter) from the Hindi or Sanskrit Baladeva, which means "powerful lord"; the elderly (or at least middle-aged) chief hunter of Messua's village. Buldeo is boastful and arrogant, and is furious when Mowgli, who knows what the jungle is really like, contradicts some of Buldeo's more fanciful stories about the jungle.

Bandar log

Bandar-log (Hindi: बन्दर-लोग), a term used in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book to describe monkeys - specifically, Langur monkeys.

In Hindi, Bandar means 'monkey' and log means 'people'. The Bandar-log feature most prominently in the story "Kaa's Hunting", where their scatterbrained anarchy causes them to be treated as pariahs by the rest of the jungle.^[2] Their foolish and chattering ways are illustrated by their slogan: We are great. We are free. We are wonderful. We are the most wonderful people in all the jungle! We all say so, and so it must be true.. Bandar-log communicate almost entirely through the repetition of other animals' speech.^[3]

It is stated repeatedly in the Kipling story that the Bandar-log "have no king;" however, the Disney film version gave them one: King Louie. He is an orangutan, a species nonexistent in India.

The Road-Song of the Bandar-log is a companion poem to 'Kaa's Hunting', and demonstrates Kipling's strong adherence to poetic form.^[3]

In December 2011, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin referred to the participants in Moscow rallies protesting rigged parliamentary elections as the "Bandar-log."

Other stories

• Rikki Tikki Tavi
  • Rikki Tikki Tavi (mongoose)
  • Nag and Nagaina (cobras) "Nag" is the Hindi word for "cobra."
  • Darzee (tailorbird) "darzee" means tailor in Hindi
  • Chuchundra (muskrat)

• The White Seal
  • Kotick (albino seal)
  • Sea Catch (Northern Fur Seal); his name is likely of Russian or Aleut origin, because a poem by Kipling has "see-catchie" with a Russian-type plural ending to mean "adult male seals".
  • Matkah (Northern Fur Seal)
  • Sea Vitch (Walrus)
  • Sea Cow (Steller's Sea Cow)

• Toomai of the Elephants
  • Toomai
  • Kala Nag (Elephant)

Disney adaptation

• Junior the baby Elephant
• Bagheera the panther
• Winifred the Elephant (Hathi's mate)
• King Louie the orangutan
• Flunkey the monkey
• Tabaqui and Mungo the Hyenas
• Shanti the human girl
• Flaps, Buzzie, Dizzy, and Ziggy the Vultures
• Rocky the rhino (deleted character)
• Ranjan the Brother
• Lucky the vulture (The Jungle Book 2)

Notes

1. ^ see http://www.shabdkosh.com/en2hi/search.php?ts=1221774293378&e=शेर – according to Erika Klemm: Hindi-deutsches Wörterbuch (Leipzig 1971) शेर means "lion" and "tiger" as well
2. ^ Gose, Elliott B. (1988). Mere Creatures: A Study of Modern Fantasy Tales for Children. University of Toronto Press. pp. 69. ISBN 9780802057617. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Parsons, Marnie (1994). Touch Monkeys. University of Toronto Press. pp. 83. ISBN 9780802029836.