List of The Jungle Book characters

Mowgli attacking Shere Khan: detail from a clay bas-relief by John Lockwood Kipling, father of Rudyard Kipling, from "The Works of Rudyard Kipling" Vol. VII: The Jungle Book, 1907.

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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.

In the Mowgli stories

Mowgli made leader of the Bandar Log by John Charles Dollman, 1903

• Mowgli (feral child also referred to as naked frog).
• Jungle characters
  • Akela (Indian wolf), "alone" in Hindi; leader of the wolf pack. Is referred to as "white, or gray"
  • Raksha (Indian wolf), "protection" in Hindi; Mowgli's adoptive mother. The name supposedly means "the demon" in the wolves' language, and refers to her ferocity
  • 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 (gray langurs) The monkeys, who are treated as pariahs for their scatterbrained anarchy. They kidnap the very young Mowgli, who is rescued by Bagheera, Baloo and Kaa.
  • Ko (crow) only mentioned
  • Kaa (rock 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 adaptions, he is a hyena.
  • Mang (bat)
  • Shere Khan (Bengal tiger); sher (Hindi: शेर, pronounced [ˈʃeːr]) is a word for "lion" in Hindi^[1] A man-eating Bengal tiger who is the main villain and Mowgli's enemy who sees himself as the rightful lord of the jungle.
  • Rama (water buffalo)
  • Mysa (water buffalo)
  • Chil (in earlier editions called Rann) (brahminy 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. Mowgli gives him the derisory epithet "Thuu" (allegedly meaning "it has dried" referring to the poison in Thuu's fangs) upon discovering that the supposedly deadly cobra's fangs are in fact withered and dried up from age and disuse. Protector of ancient treasures
  • Grey Brother (Indian wolf); the oldest of Father Wolf and Raksha's cubs
  • Phaona (Indian wolf) Fao's son
  • The Dholes
  • Oo (turtle)
  • Jacala (Crocodile). In Red Dog it is stated that Mowgli broke a knife on Jacala's back during a protracted fight with him.
  • Mao (in earlier editions called Mor) (peacock)
  • Won-Tolla (Indian wolf) An outlier who warns Mowgli's tribe of the dholes
  • Chikai (Rat)
  • Phao (Wolf) Son of Phaona, leader of The Free People
  • Ferao (Woodpecker)
  • Shen (Horse)

• Human characters
  • Messua; wife of the richest man of the human village, who decides to adopt the wild Mowgli, believing (probably mistakenly) that he is their long-lost son Nathoo
  • Messua's husband; the richest man of the village; his name is not given
  • 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, arrogant and superstitious, and is furious when Mowgli, who knows what the jungle is really like, contradicts some of Buldeo's more fanciful stories about the jungle.
  • Kamya: one of the village boys who herd buffalo along with Mowgli. In contrast to Messua's husband, he has a name but no description.

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 (Asian house shrew) Called a muskrat in the story.
  • Karait (common krait)
  • The Coppersmith (coppersmith barbet)
• 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

• Hathi Jr. the baby elephant
• Winifred Hathi - Colonel Hathi's wife
• King Louie the orangutan
• Flunkey the Monkey - King Louie's servant
• Shanti the Human Girl (Named Shanti only in the 2nd movie)
• Buzzy, Dizzy, Flaps, and Ziggy the Vultures - Four vultures who closely resemble the Beatles because of their shaggy moptop haircuts and Liverpool accents. Buzzy resembles Ringo Starr, Dizzy resembles George Harrison, Flaps resembles Paul McCartney, and Ziggy resembles John Lennon. Their song "That's What Friends Are For" was sung in the style of a barbershop quartet instead of a Beatles song. Disney was originally going to get the band to voice them, but John Lennon refused.
• Rocky the Rhino (deleted character) - Rocky was originally going to be a friend of the Vultures', but Disney cut him out.
• Ranjan the Brother (The Jungle Book 2)
• Lucky the Vulture (The Jungle Book 2) - The Vultures' friend who loves to annoy Shere Khan.

References