All the Mowgli Stories (Macmillan Collector's Library)

The Law of the Jungle also seems more akin to a natural law than one dependent on the existence of an all-powerful god. The Law is, as Baloo says, like the Giant Creeper that ‘dropped across every one’s back and no one could escape.’ Professor Daniel Karlin has remarked that since the Law is a matter of instinctive knowledge, ‘it is hard to see what Baloo did before Mowgli arrived.’ Perhaps Baloo taught those parts of the law that are not included in the vulpine section, of which the Water Truce in ‘How Fear Came’ is one example.

The rukh in the final stories differs from the jungle in that it is managed by the Imperial Forestry Service. The jungle may be defined as those parts of Indian sub-tropical that are unmanaged and uninhabited by man, except for the Dravidian Gonds (see ‘The King’s Ankus’). Etymologically, the word ‘jungle’ comes from the Sanskrit jangala, meaning waste or uncultivated ground. In this sense the deserted city, the Cold Lairs, can quite sensibly exist in the jungle. Mowgli’s jungle is in the Seoni Hills in Madhya Pradesh, an area which Kipling never visited; he was familiar with it from accounts and photographs provided by Mrs Edmonia Hill, the American wife of English Professor Alexander Hill, who was an astronomer and meteorologist teaching in Allahabad, and with whom Kipling lodged for a time.

It is easy to over-analyse the Mowgli stories, to attach psychological importance to the abandonment of Mowgli (a theme which reappears in Kim), or to attribute to the stories unintended meaning. What should not be forgotten is their truly exciting nature, their pace and the haunting world that they evoke. The sinister monkey city of the Cold Lairs, the trapping of Shere Khan and the cold pragmatism of Kaa will remain in the memory long after conflicting literary theories are forgotten.

Reproduced below are Kipling’s explanations for some of the names he gave to his characters, which he provided for the definitive Macmillan Sussex Edition of his works.

MOWGLI is a name I made up. It does not mean ‘frog’ in any language that I know of. It is pronounced Mowglee (accent on the Mow, which rhymes with ‘cow’).

RAKSHA (‘The demon’), which Mother Wolf was when any-one interfered with her cubs, is pronounced Ruk-sher (accent on Ruk).

SHERE KHAN is pronounced Sheer Karn. ‘Shere’ means ‘Tiger’ in some of the Indian dialects, and ‘Khan’ is a title, more or less of distinction, to show that he was a chief among tigers.

TABAQUI the Jackal, is pronounced Tabarky. I think I made up this name myself (accent on bar).

AKELA which means ‘Alone’, is pronounced Uk-kay-la (accent on kay).

BALOO is Hindustani for ‘Bear’. Pronounced Bar-loo (accent on Bar).

BAGHEERA is Hindustani for a panther or leopard. It is a sort of diminutive of BAGH, which is Hindustani for ‘Tiger’. Pronounced Bug-eer-a (accent on the eer).

KAA is pronounced Kar. A made-up name, from the queer open-mouthed hiss of a big snake.

GIDUR-LOG means literally ‘Jackal people’. Gidur, pronounced Geeder, is an Indian name for the jackal, and log – pronounced always logue, to rhyme with vogue – means people. Same as Bandar-log means Monkey People.

BANDAR is pronounced Bunder.

MANG the bat, is Mung, a made-up name.

HATHI is pronounced Huttee, or say nearly so. One of the Indian names for ‘Elephant’.

CHIL the Indian Kite, pronounced Cheel.

COLD LAIRS There are lots of old deserted cities in India which look very much like the Cold Lairs in the Jungle Books. It is called Cold Lairs because when any animal leaves its lair or den, the place becomes cold, of course. Same with man as animals.

THA the Elephant that was Lord of the Jungle in ‘How Fear Came’, is pronounced Tar. A made-up name.

MESSUA the woman, is pronounced Mess-wa (accent on Mess).

NILGHAI pronounced Neal-guy. It means literally ‘blue bull’, a wild antelope as big as a small pony (accent on guy).

DHOLE is Dole: and is one of the native names for the Wild Hunting Dog of India.

BEE ROCKS There are some rocks above a river near Jubbulpore in India where wild bees have lived for many years. Nobody goes near them if he can avoid it, for sometimes they attack and kill men and horses.

RUDYARD KIPLING was born in India in 1865. After intermittently moving between India and England during his early life, he settled in the latter in 1889, published his novel The Light that Failed in 1891 and married Caroline (Carrie) Balestier the following year. They returned to her home in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kipling wrote both The Jungle Book and its sequel, as well as Captains Courageous. He continued to write prolifically and was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907, but his later years were darkened by the death of his son John at the Battle of Loos in 1915. He died in 1936.

First published 1933