The Jungle Book characters

Rudyard Kipling's story collections The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book contain a colourful array of both human and talking animal characters. The most important of these are:

Mowgli's adventures

*Mowgli (feral child)
*Jungle characters
**Akela (wolf), "alone" in Hindi
**Raksha (wolf), "protection" in Hindi;
**Father Wolf (wolf)
**Baloo (bear); "bhaalu" is "bear" in Hindi
**Bagheera (black panther); from "baagh" (Devanagari: बाघ) in Sanskrit or Hindi meaning "tiger"
**Ko (Crow)
**Kaa (python)
**Hathi (elephant); meaning "elephant" in Hindi
**Tabaqui (jackal)
**Mang (bat)
**Shere Khan (tiger); "sher" (pronounced [IPA|ʃer] , शेर) is a word for "lion" in Hindi [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]
**The Bandar-log (monkeys); "bandar log" means "monkey folk" in Hindi
**Rama (water buffalo)
**Chil (in earlier editions called Rann) (kite); "cheel" means kite in Hindi
**Ikki (in earlier editions called Sahi) (porcupine)
**Tha (Elephant) The first of the elephants
**Thuu (Cobra) A blind albino Cobra
**Grey Brother (wolf)
**Fao (wolf)
**Phaona (wolf)
**The Dholes (wild dog)
**Oo (Turtle)
**Jacala (Crocodile)
**Mysa (water buffalo)
**Won-Tolla (wolf) An outlier who warns Mowgli's tribe of the Dhole
**Chikai (Rat)
**Phano (Wolf) Son of Phaona, leader of The Free People
**Ferao (Woodpecker)

*Human characters
**Messua
**Messua's husband
**Nathoo (Messua's lost child)
**Buldeo/Toomai (village hunter)

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)

Disney adaptation

* Junior the baby Elephant
* Winifred the Elephant (Hathi's mate)
* King Louie the orangutan
* Shanti the human girl
* Flaps, Buzzie, Dizzy, and Ziggy the Vultures It should be noted that a lot of the characters mentioned in the first section are also characters in the film. They are:
*Mowgli
*Bagheera
*Father Wolf (named as Rama)
*Rakshah
*Akela
*Kaa
*Hathi
*Baloo
*The Bandar Log
*Shere Khan

Notes