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{{Short description|Fictional character created by Rudyard Kipling}}
] (father of Rudyard Kipling). An illustration from '']'', ] ]]
{{Other uses |Mowgli (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Mowgli
| series = ]
| image = Mowgli-1895-illustration.png
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Mowgli by ] (father of Rudyard Kipling); an illustration from '']'' (1895)
| first = "In the Rukh" (1893)
| last = "]" (1895)
| creator = ]
| nickname = Man-cub, Frog
| religion =
| family = ] (mother)<br>] (father)<br>] (foster mother)<br>] (foster father)<br>] (foster mother)<br>] (foster father)<br>] (foster brother)
| spouse = ] wife
| children = Unnamed son
}}
'''Mowgli''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|aʊ|ɡ|l|i}} {{Respell|MOW|glee}}) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Mowgli stories featured among ] '']'' stories. He is a ] boy from the ] area in ], ], ], who originally appeared in Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" (collected in '']'', 1893) and then became the most prominent character in the collections ''The Jungle Book'' and '']'' (1894–1895), which also featured stories about other characters.<ref name= Sale>
{{cite book | chapter= Kipling's Boy's | first= Roger | last= Sale | title= Fairy Tales and After: from Snow White to E.B. White | publisher= Harvard Univ. Press | year= 1978 | isbn= 0-674-29157-3 | url-access= registration | url= https://archive.org/details/fairytalesafter00roge_9tt}}
</ref>


==Name and inspiration==
'''Dharmatma''' is a ] ] character who originally appeared in ]'s short story "In the Rukh" (collected in ''Many Inventions'', ]) and then went on to become the most prominent and memorable character in his fantasies, '']'' and '']'' (]-]), which also featured non-Mowgli stories.
In the stories, the name Mowgli is said to mean "bald", describing his lack of fur. Kipling later said "Mowgli is a name I made up. It does not mean 'frog' in any language that I know of."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/rg_junglebook_names.htm|title=Kipling's list of names|date=30 March 2007|website=www.kiplingsociety.co.uk|access-date=2019-02-23}}</ref>


Part of Kipling's inspiration for the story of Mowgli is believed to have been ]'s account of six cases in India in which wild children had been raised by wolves.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Hotchkiss, Jane|title=The jungle of Eden: Kipling, wolf boys, and the colonial imagination|journal=Victorian Literature and Culture|year=2001|volume=29|issue=2|pages=435–449|doi=10.1017/s1060150301002108|s2cid=162409338}}</ref> That account was first published in the first volume of Sleeman's ''Journey Through the Kingdom of Oude in 1848-1850'' (1858)<ref>{{cite book|pages=206–222|url=https://archive.org/stream/ajourneythrough00sleegoog#page/n292/mode/2up|title=A journey through the kingdom of Oude in 1849–1850. Volume 1|author=Sleeman, W.H. |year=1858|publisher=Richard Bentley|place=London}}</ref> and reprinted in 1852 as ''An Account of Wolves Nurturing Children in Their Dens, by an Indian Official'' and in ''The Zoologist'' (1888 12 (135): 87-98).<ref>{{cite journal|title=Feral Man and Extreme Cases of Isolation|author=Zingg, Robert M.| journal=The American Journal of Psychology| volume=53|issue= 4 |year=1940|pages=487–517|doi=10.2307/1417630|jstor=1417630}}</ref> One most notable feral child was found in the wolf's den at the ] in 1867 and subsequently brought to the Sikandra orphanage at ], where he was given the name ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gqindia.com/content/true-story-behind-mowgli-netflix-hindi-movie-2018-what-is-the-real-story-of-mowgli-legend-of-the-jungle-who-was-mowgli-jungle-book-character|title=Real Story of Mowgli Netflix Movie: Who was Mowgli. The Jungle Book character & how did it inspire Netflix's 2018 Hindi movie Mowgli|website=]|date=December 7, 2018|access-date=April 7, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g0A2AQAAMAAJ&dq=lowe&pg=PA3|first=Caroline|last=Sorabji|title=The Wide World Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly of True Narrative, Travel, Customs, and Sport|publisher=George Newnes|date=1904|page=38}}</ref>
The Mowgli stories including ''In the Rukh'' were first collected in chronological order in one volume as ''The Works of Rudyard Kipling Volume VII: The Jungle Book'' (]) (''Volume VIII'' of this series contained the non-Mowgli stories from the Jungle Books), and subsequently in '']'' (]).


== Mowgli Stories == ==Kipling's Mowgli stories==
The Mowgli stories, including "In the Rukh", were first collected in chronological order in one volume as ''The Works of Rudyard Kipling Volume VII: The Jungle Book'' (1907) (Volume VIII of this series contained the non-Mowgli stories from the Jungle Books), and subsequently in '']'' (1933).


"In the Rukh" describes how Gisborne, an English ] in the ] in ] at the time of the ], discovers a young man named Mowgli, who has extraordinary skills in hunting, tracking, and driving wild animals (with the help of his wolf brothers). He asks him to join the forestry service. Muller, the head of the Department of Woods and Forests of India as well as Gisborne's boss, meets Mowgli, checks his elbows and knees, noting the callouses and scars, and figures Mowgli is not using magic or demons, having seen a similar case in 30 years of service. Muller also invites Mowgli to join the service, to which Mowgli agrees. Later, Gisborne learns the reason for Mowgli's almost superhuman talents; he was raised by a pack of wolves in the jungle (explaining the scars on his elbows and knees from going on all fours). Mowgli marries the daughter of Gisborne's butler, Abdul Gafur, and conceives a son with her.
{{spoiler}}


Kipling then proceeded to write the stories of Mowgli's childhood in detail in '']'', which serves as a prequel to ''In the Rukh''. Lost by his parents as a baby in the Indian jungle during a tiger attack, he is adopted by the ] Mother, ] and ], who call him Mowgli (frog) because of his lack of fur and his refusal to sit still. ] the tiger demands that they give him the baby but the wolves refuse. Mowgli grows up with the pack, hunting with his brother wolves. In the pack, Mowgli learns he is able to stare down any wolf, and his unique ability to remove the painful ] from the paws of his brothers is deeply appreciated as well.
''In the Rukh'' describes how Gisborne, an English forest ranger in ] at the time of the ], discovers a young man named Mowgli, who has extraordinary skill at hunting and tracking, and asks him to join the forestry service. Later Gisborne learns the reason for Mowgli's almost superhuman talents: he was raised by wild animals in the jungle.


], the black panther, befriends Mowgli because both he and Mowgli have parallel childhood experiences; as Bagheera often mentions, he was "raised in the King's cages at ]" from a cub, and thus knows the ways of man. ] the ], teacher of wolves, has the thankless task of educating Mowgli in "]".
Kipling then proceeded to write the stories of Mowgli's childhood in detail. Lost by his parents in the Indian jungle, a human baby is adopted by the ] Mother (]) and ], who call him Mowgli the Frog because of his furlessness. ] the ] demands that they give him the baby but the wolves refuse. Mowgli grows up with and runs ] with the pack, hunting with his brother wolves.


Shere Khan continues to regard Mowgli as fair game, but eventually Mowgli finds a weapon he can use against the tiger – fire. After driving off Shere Khan, Mowgli goes to a human village where he is adopted by ] and her ], whose own son ] was also taken by a tiger. It is uncertain if Mowgli is actually the returned Nathoo, although it is stated in "]" that the tiger who carried off Messua's son was similar to the one that attacked Mowgli's parents. Messua would like to believe that her son has returned, but she herself realises that this is unlikely.
] (the ]) befriends Mowgli, partly because Mowgli, being a human, has the power of dominion over beasts: Bagheera cannot withstand Mowgli's gaze. ] the ], teacher of wolves, has the thankless task of educating Mowgli in ].


While herding ] for the village, Mowgli learns that the tiger is still planning to kill him, so with the aid of two wolves, he traps Shere Khan in a ravine where the buffalo trample him. The tiger dies and Mowgli sets to skin him. After being accused of witchcraft and cast out of the village, Mowgli returns to the jungle with Shere Khan's hide and reunites with his wolf family, but it is mentioned that he later becomes married and goes back to the man village.
Mowgli has many adventures among the talking animals in his jungle paradise, assuming ever-increasing mastery as he approaches manhood. Shere Khan regards Mowgli as fair game, but eventually Mowgli finds the one weapon he can use against the tiger - ]. After driving off Shere Khan, Mowgli returns to the human village where he is adopted by ] and her ] who believe he is their own long-lost son ]. (In fact we never find out if this is true.)


While herding ] for the village Mowgli learns that the tiger is still planning to kill him, so with the aid of two wolves he traps Shere Khan in a ], where the buffalo trample him. Seeing this, the villagers persecute Mowgli and his adopted parents as witches. Mowgli runs back to the jungle but soon learns that the villagers are planning to kill Messua and her husband, so he rescues them and sends ], buffalo and other animals to trample the village and its fields to the ground. In later stories in ''The Jungle Book'''s sequel, '']'', Mowgli learns that the villagers are planning to kill Messua and her husband for harboring him. He rescues them and sends elephants, water buffaloes, and other animals to trample the village and its fields to the ground. Later, Mowgli finds and then discards an ancient treasure ("The King's ]"), not realising it is so valuable that men would kill to own it. With the aid of ] the python, he leads the wolves in a war against the ] (]).


Finally, Mowgli stumbles across the village where his adopted human mother (Messua) is now living, which forces him to come to terms with his humanity and decide whether to rejoin his fellow humans in "]".
During his time in the village Mowgli wears ], but discards it again when he returns to the wild.


==Play adaptations==
In later stories he finds and then discards an ancient treasure, not realising that men will kill to own it; and with the aid of ] the ] he leads the wolves in a war against the ] (red dogs).
Rudyard Kipling adapted the Mowgli stories for ''The Jungle Play'' in 1899, but the play was never produced on stage. The manuscript was lost for almost a century. It was published in book form in 2000.<ref>''The Jungle Play'': UK paperback edition: {{ISBN|0-14-118292-X}}</ref>


==Influences upon other works==
Finally, Mowgli stumbles across the village where his human mother is now living, which forces him to come to terms with his humanity and decide whether to rejoin his fellow humans.
Only six years after the first publication of ''The Jungle Book'', ]'s ''The Wouldbegoods'' (1899) included a passage in which some children act out a scene from the book.<ref name= Sale />{{rp|204}}


Mowgli has been cited as a major influence on ] who created and developed the character ]. Mowgli was also an influence for a number of ].
Kipling also adapted the Mowgli stories for ''The Jungle Play'' in ], but the play was never produced on stage and the manuscript was lost for almost a century. It was finally published in book form in ].


] and ] used the Mowgli stories as the basis for their humorous 1957 science fiction short story "Full Pack (Hokas Wild)". This is one of a series featuring a teddy bear-like race called Hokas who enjoy human literature but cannot quite grasp the distinction between fact and fiction. In this story, a group of Hokas get hold of a copy of ''The Jungle Book'' and begin to act it out, enlisting the help of a human boy to play Mowgli. The boy's mother, who is a little bemused to see teddy bears trying to act like wolves, tags along to try to keep him (and the Hokas) out of trouble. The situation is complicated by the arrival of three alien diplomats who just happen to resemble a monkey, a tiger and a snake. This story appears in the collection ''Hokas Pokas!'' (1998) and is also available online.
''The Jungle Play'': UK ] edition: ISBN 014118292X


== Influences upon other works == ==Mowgli stories by other writers==
'']'' (1992) by Pamela Jekel is a collection of new Mowgli stories in a fairly accurate pastiche of Kipling's style.


''Hunting Mowgli'' (2001) by Maxim Antinori is a very short novel which describes a fateful meeting between Mowgli and a human hunter.
Only five years after the first publication of ''The Jungle Book'', ]'s ''The Wouldbegoods'' (]) included a passage in which some children act out a scene from the book.


''The Jungle Book: Last of the Species'' (2013) by Mark L. Miller is a series of comic books that tells the story of a female Mowgli who unintentionally started a war between animal tribes after killing Shere Khan to avenge the fallen members of the wolf tribe.
Mowgli has been cited as a major influence on ]' character ], although the Mowgli stories are arguably better written. Mowgli was also a probable influence on at a number of other "wild boy" characters; see ].


''Mowgli's Missionary'' (2017) by James Penrice is a novel which describes Mowgli's unusual encounter with a ].<ref>{{cite book|title=Mowgli's Missionary|id={{ASIN|1520857314|country=ca}} }}</ref>
] and ] used the Mowgli stories as the basis for their humorous ] science fiction short story "Full Pack (Hokas Wild)". This is one of a series featuring a ]-like race called Hokas who enjoy human literature but cannot quite grasp the distinction between fact and fiction. In this story a group of Hokas get hold of a copy of ''The Jungle Book'' and begin to act it out with the help of a human boy and his mother, who is a little bemused to see teddy bears trying to act like wolves. The situation is then complicated by the arrival of three alien diplomats who just happen to resemble a monkey, a tiger and a snake. This story appears in the collection ''Hokas Pokas!'' (]) (ISBN 0671578588), and is also available on-line:


''Mi Hermano Lobo (My Brother Wolf)'' (2020) by Rafael Jaime is a short ] ] ] written in ] in which the author details the deep emotional and physical impact Disney's animated version of Mowgli had during his lonely early childhood years as a symbolic "]" figure and ] after learning about his real ] ]'s death one day after their ]. It also includes an exclusive ] with ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSTDOjHswKY|title= Entrevista a Diana Santos sobre 'El Libro de la Selva' (1967) - (12 de enero de 2020) HD|website=YouTube|date=July 16, 2021|access-date=November 12, 2023}}</ref> who voiced the character in the ] ] dub of ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfAAoRffbU|title=Entrevista a Diana Santos en... Talentos de voz. Parte 1/3|website=YouTube|date=February 7, 2022|access-date=September 9, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1751NvLyas|title=Entrevista a Diana Santos en... Talentos de voz. Parte 2/3|website=YouTube|date=February 7, 2022|access-date=September 9, 2022}}</ref> An ] version narrated by the author was uploaded on ] in September 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8jpYYzOjHM|title=Mi Hermano Lobo (el Audiolibro) - (2021) HD|website=YouTube|date=September 21, 2021|access-date=July 24, 2022}}</ref> It is similar in tone to the 2016 documentary '']''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q27nUk448bA|title=20 20 Finding Owen A Boys Story Life Animated|website=YouTube|date=November 6, 2017|access-date=May 5, 2024}}</ref>
|


''Feral Dreams: Mowgli and his Mothers'' (2020) by ] is a novel which describes Mowgli's harrowing process in trying to adapt to civilization and his ] within the walls of an ] located in the ] and run by Miss Cranston, an American ] who christens him Daniel. At the same time, Mowgli recalls some of his adventures in the jungle prior to his abduction and desperately yearns for his freedom. In this story Mowgli is raised by an elephant matriarch.<ref>{{cite book|title=Feral Dreams: Mowgli and his Mothers|via=Amazon|url=https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Stephen-Alter-ebook/dp/B0918ZBKCM/ref=sr_1_2?__mk_es_US=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=1JV1UW2ICG36C&keywords=feral+dreams&qid=1655571087&s=books&sprefix=feral+dreams%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C296&sr=1-2}}</ref>
== Mowgli stories by other writers ==


==Films, television and radio==
'']'' (]) by Pamela Jekel (ISBN 187937322X) is a collection of new Mowgli stories in a fairly accurate pastiche of Kipling's style.
* ] starred ] as Mowgli.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kumar |first=Anu |title=Sabu Dastagir, the actor who crossed over to Hollywood on the back of an elephant |url=https://scroll.in/reel/802571/sabu-dastagir-the-actor-who-crossed-over-to-hollywood-on-the-back-of-an-elephant |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=Scroll.in |date=27 January 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref>
* ], where he is voiced by ], son of the film's director ] (David Bailey was originally cast in the role, but his voice changed during production, leading Bailey to not fit the "young innocence of Mowgli's character" at which the producers were aiming),<ref>{{cite video|people=]|title=The Jungle Book ]|date=2007}} The Jungle Book, Platinum Edition, Disc 1</ref> and its sequel, '']'' (2003), in which Mowgli is voiced by ] (] auditioned for the role prior to Osment's casting).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120281829/quick-takes/ |title=Quick takes |last=Johnson |first=Walter |newspaper=] |location=] |date=November 19, 1999 |page=79}}</ref> On three special animated segments for the VHS releases of the '']'' (1996-1998) animated TV series, Mowgli is voiced by Tyler Mullen. In the 2023 short '']'' Mowgli's singing voice is provided by Phoenix Reisser.]
* Around the same time – from 1967 to 1971 – five Russian short animated films were made by ], collectively known as '']''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Patrick |date=2016-04-25 |title=We don't wanna be like you: how Soviet Russia made its own, darker Jungle Book |language=en-GB |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/18/we-dont-wanna-be-like-you-how-soviet-russia-made-its-own-darker/ |access-date=2022-11-14 |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>
* Of all the various adaptations, ]'s 1977 animated TV short ''Mowgli's Brothers'', adapting the first story in ''The Jungle Book'', may be the one that adheres most closely to the original plot and dialogue.<ref>{{Cite web |title='The Jungle Book' is the king of Disney animated movies |date=26 March 2019 |url=https://umlconnector.com/2019/03/the-jungle-book-is-the-king-of-disney-animated-movies/ |access-date=2022-11-14 |language=en-US}}</ref>
* There has also been a Japanese animated TV series '']'' (where Mowgli is voiced by ] in the Japanese and ] in the English Dub) based on the Mowgli series and the U.S. live-action series '']'' (where Mowgli is portrayed by Sean Price McConnell).
* There was also a BBC radio adaptation in 1994, starring actress ] as Mowgli, ] as Baloo and ] as Kaa. It originally aired on BBC Radio 5 (before it became BBC Radio 5 Live and dropped its children's programming). Subsequently, it has been released on audio cassette and has been re-run a number of times on digital radio channel BBC 7 (now ]).
* '']'' #83 (1951) contains an adaptation of three Mowgli stories.
* Between 1953 and 1955 ] featured adaptations of six Mowgli stories in three issues (#487, #582 and #620).<ref name="p-synd">{{cite web|url=http://www.p-synd.com/wild/jbcomic1-big.jpg|title=Image: jbcomic1-big.jpg, (722 × 1014 px)|publisher=p-synd.com|access-date=2015-09-04}}</ref><ref name="p-synd2">{{cite web|url=http://www.p-synd.com/wild/jbcomic2-big.jpg|title=Image: jbcomic2-big.jpg, (785 × 1110 px)|publisher=p-synd.com|access-date=2015-09-04}}</ref><ref name="p-synd3">{{cite web|url=http://www.p-synd.com/wild/jbcomic3-big.jpg|title=Image: jbcomic3-big.jpg, (783 × 1100 px)|publisher=p-synd.com|access-date=2015-09-04}}</ref>
* Some issues of '']'' feature adaptations of the Mowgli stories by ]. These later were collected as an omnibus volume.
* A 1978 live-action sketch titled ''The Wonderful World of Ernie'' from '']'' which parodied "]". Danny Rolnick played Mowgli using a full costume, although lip-synching to ]'s original recorded dialogue in the middle of the song.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6nDKP4rEIU|title=Morecambe&Wise - The Jungle Book - I Wanna Be Like You - Disney spoof|website=YouTube|date=December 14, 2011|access-date=September 8, 2022}}</ref>
* A 1994 live-action Disney adaptation titled ], directed by ], which starred ] as Mowgli. He was also played by Sean Naegeli as a young child at the beginning of the story.
* ]'s ''Jungle Book Stories'' (1997) collects three stories, actually adapted from '']'', which originally appeared between 1985 and 1996.
* A 1997 live-action ] film '']'', which starred Jamie Williams as Mowgli. In this story, the character has no spoken dialogue.
* In the 1998 live-action Disney adaptation '']'', he was played by ]. Ryan Taylor also plays a younger version of the character at the beginning of the story. ] narrates the story off-screen as an adult version of the character.
* A 1998 live-action ] titled ''The Jungle Book: Search for the Lost Treasure'', which starred Antonio Baker as Mowgli.
* A ] made by DQ Entertainment International where Mowgli was voiced by ] (seasons 1-2) and ] (season 3).
* A ] of Disney's animated version of ''The Jungle Book'' directed by ], which starred newcomer ] as Mowgli. Kendrick Reyes also played Mowgli as a toddler during a flashback sequence narrated by ] the python. In 2018, Sethi confirmed that he would reprise the role in an upcoming sequel to the film.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hamad |first=Marwa |title='Jungle Book' actor Neel Sethi eyes superhero films |url=https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/hollywood/jungle-book-actor-neel-sethi-eyes-superhero-films-1.2290732 |website=Gulf News |access-date=November 30, 2019 |date=October 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207043302/https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/hollywood/jungle-book-actor-neel-sethi-eyes-superhero-films-1.2290732 |archive-date=December 7, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* A 2018 live-action adaptation titled '']'', directed by ], which starred ] as Mowgli.<ref name=eight-cast>{{cite news|last1=Kit|first1=Borys|title=Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett Join 'Jungle Book: Origins'|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/christian-bale-cate-blanchett-join-726475|access-date=14 September 2014|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=20 August 2014}}</ref>
* A 2024 live-action ] ] ] titled ''Mi Hermano Lobo (My Brother Wolf)'' written and directed by Rafael Jaime and based on his 2020 ] of the same name, which starred newcomer Héctor Mateo García Díaz Infante as Mowgli.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib3D3PRcMrY|title=Mi Hermano Lobo (2024) - Cortometraje Completo (Subtitulado)|website=YouTube|date=December 3, 2024|access-date=December 6, 2024}}</ref> Jaime envisioned Mowgli with an athletic, lean and handsome physical appearance which was based both on Disney's animated version of the character created in 1967 as well as French ] Marcel Laverdet's depiction of the character for a 1999 abridged edition of ].<ref>{{Cite AV media| title = Parte 6: Cosas que Jamás Soñaste Ver: Las Inspiraciones| access-date = 2024-12-13| date = 2024-12-03| time = 7:43| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upcmHcthaOc&list=PLUPXHzcA62bSq5atei7wcJrl5n854nuR8&index=7}}</ref> His warm and kind-hearted personality was based on his first childhood friend, Miguel<ref>{{Cite AV media| title = Parte 3: Sentirse Libre por Primera Vez: Campamentos de Verano y 'El Libro de la Selva' en el Escultismo| access-date = 2024-12-13| date = 2024-12-03| time = 0:55| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSz30COGFfs&list=PLUPXHzcA62bSq5atei7wcJrl5n854nuR8&index=4}}</ref> as well as ]'s performance as ]<ref name="Matthew Labyorteaux Biography">{{cite web |title=Matthew Labyorteaux |website=Biography.com |url=http://www.biography.com/people/matthew-labyorteaux |access-date=August 22, 2015}}</ref> on '']'' from 1978 to 1983, ]'s performance as ] in '']'' (1984) and ]'s performance as ] in '']'' (2003).<ref>{{Cite AV media| title = Parte 8: Inocencia, Libertad y Camaradería: Los Personajes)| access-date = 2024-12-13| date = 2024-12-03| time = 4:06| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myA_jMljr1w&list=PLUPXHzcA62bSq5atei7wcJrl5n854nuR8&index=9}}</ref> The character also sings a ] titled ''Brave Angel'' (A cover version of '']'').<ref>{{Cite AV media| title = Mi Hermano Lobo (2024) - Cortometraje Completo (Subtitulado)| access-date = 2024-12-06| date = 2024-12-03| time = 24:07| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib3D3PRcMrY}}</ref> It was released on ] on the ].<ref>{{cite web |last=Medina |first=Malú |title=Mi hermano lobo: Un documental sobre la obtención de la libertad |url=https://www.lajornadamorelos.mx/sociedad/mi-hermano-lobo-un-documental-sobre-la-obtencion-de-la-libertad/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHDKNdleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZTSz2suUQZ9bkhvnJ6DddB9UAmvvc3hhITM7QTkdRkdqiJw7Usu9ekvXQ_aem_rIfsVYmX_MTte5jr1XFL6A |website=La Jornada Morelos |access-date=December 8, 2024 |date=December 8, 2024}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/rafael.jaime.7549/posts/pfbid0PCQRkpiMHQhmLs9QcgwTEiecxcx27tMHVUws3MazaqN8W8hZd9wNVVBYDhQTftQ9l|title=Mi Hermano Lobo (Cortometraje)|website=Facebook|date=December 4, 2024|access-date=December 5, 2024}}</ref>
* In 1984–1985, ] and Seth Goldman wrote an ultimately unproduced musical called ''Mowgli''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://infomotions.com/sandbox/liam/pages/httphdllocgovlocmusiceadmusmu011016.html|title = Jonathan Larson Papers}}</ref>


==Actors who played the character==
''Hunting Mowgli'' (]) by Maxim Antinori (ISBN 1931319499) is a very short novel which describes a fateful meeting between Mowgli and a human hunter. Although marketed as a children's book it is really a dark psychological drama, and ends with the violent death of a major character.
Mowgli has been played by many actors. In the ], Mowgli was played by ]. In ], he was played by Sean Naegeli as a child, and later throughout the film he was played by ]. In '']'', he was played by Jamie Williams. In '']'', he was played by ], Ryan Taylor and off-screen by ]. Mowgli was played by ] and by Kendrick Reyes as a toddler in the Disney ], which was released in 3D in April 2016. Mowgli was played by ] in '']'', released in November 2018.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Sinha-Roy|first=Piya|title=Watch Netflix's new trailer for Andy Serkis' dark twist on The Jungle Book tale, Mowgli|url=https://ew.com/movies/2018/11/08/netflix-andy-serkis-mowgli/|access-date=November 8, 2018|magazine=]|date=November 8, 2018}}</ref><ref name=eight-cast/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Ford|first1=Rebecca|title=Warner Bros. Pushes 'Jungle Book' to 2018, 'Wonder Woman' Gets New Date|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/warner-bros-pushes-jungle-book-881353|access-date=6 April 2016|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=6 April 2016}}</ref>


==See also==
== ]s, ] and ] ==
* ]
* ], a ] character from a ] and ]


==References==
Because of ]s against the depiction of juvenile nudity, film, television and comic book adaptaions of the story almost always depict Mowgli wearing a ] or other ].
{{Reflist}}

Mowgli has been portrayed on film by several ]s:
*] in ]'s '']'' (])
*] in ]'s live-action '']'' (])
*] in '']: Mowgli & Baloo'' (])
*] in Disney's '']'' (]), which is apparently not a sequel to either the 1967 (see below) or 1994 Disney versions.

There has also been a ]ese ] ''Jungle Book'' series (see ] for details) and a US live-action TV show, ''Mowgli: the New Adventures of the Jungle Book''.

However, none of these adaptations is especially true to the spirit of Kipling's original. ]'s ] animated TV short ''Mowgli's Brothers'', adapting the first story in ''The Jungle Book'', is the adaptation that sticks most closely to the original plot and dialogue.

The best known of all portrayals of Mowgli is the musical version in ]'s '']'' (]), where he is voiced by ], son of the film's director ]; and '']'' (]) in which Mowgli is voiced by ]. Disney's brightly-lit child-friendly jungle is a whole world away from the dark, dangerous and often violent jungle inhabited by Kipling's noble savage, but the popularity of the Disney version has overshadowed the original stories.

The Disney version also overshadowed the release of a ] version, '']'' (&#1052;&#1072;&#1091;&#1075;&#1083;&#1080;) (]), which if not entirely true to Kipling's book at least gives an alternative interpretation of the story.

There was also a ] radio adaptation in ], starring actress ] as Mowgli, ] as Baloo and ] as Kaa. This has been released on audio cassette and has been re-run a number of times on digital radio channel ]'s ''Little Toe Show''.

Vince Noir, Rock and Roll star (] of stage/radio/tv ] ] describes himself as Mowgli in flares.

Note: According to Kipling the ''"Mow"'' of Mowgli should rhyme with ''"cow"'', but in the film and TV versions it is almost always pronounced to rhyme with ''"go"''.

== ]s ==
(Not counting the numerous comics based on the Disney version)

* '']'' #83 (]) contains an adaptation of three Mowgli stories.
**Reprinted in ] in a ] edition with new coloring, accompanied by notes on the original stories, as a "Classics Illustrated Study Guide".
* Between ] and ] Dell Comics featured adaptations of six Mowgli stories in three issues (#487, #582 and #620).
* Some issues of '']'' feature adaptations of the Mowgli stories by ]
* ]'s ''Jungle Book Stories'' (]) collects three stories, actually adapted from ], which originally appeared between ] and ].
* ] features an adult Mowgli. He is one of the "Tourists", a group of three Fables monitoring Fables who do not live in ]. Fables #48 features a brief and extremely violent (and incidentally nude on his part) fight to the death between Mowgli and the leader of a ]n wolf pack.

==See also==
*]
*]
*]


==External links== ==External links==
{{Commons category|Mowgli}}
*: a website demonstrating the variety of merchandise related to the book and film versions of The Jungle Books
* : Mowgli's first appearance from Kipling's ''Many Inventions''

* : a website demonstrating the variety of merchandise related to the book and film versions of ''The Jungle Books'', now accompanied by a Wiki on ''The Jungle Books'' and related subjects
]
]
]


{{The Jungle Book}}
]
{{Authority control}}
]
]
]
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Latest revision as of 15:13, 26 December 2024

Fictional character created by Rudyard Kipling For other uses, see Mowgli (disambiguation). Fictional character
Mowgli
The Jungle Book character
Mowgli by John Lockwood Kipling (father of Rudyard Kipling); an illustration from The Second Jungle Book (1895)
First appearance"In the Rukh" (1893)
Last appearance"The Spring Running" (1895)
Created byRudyard Kipling
In-universe information
NicknameMan-cub, Frog
FamilyMarali (mother)
Nathoo (father)
Raksha (foster mother)
Rama (foster father)
Messua (foster mother)
Villager Leader (foster father)
Ranjan (foster brother)
SpouseShanti wife
ChildrenUnnamed son

Mowgli (/ˈmaʊɡli/ MOW-glee) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Mowgli stories featured among Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book stories. He is a feral boy from the Pench area in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, India, who originally appeared in Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" (collected in Many Inventions, 1893) and then became the most prominent character in the collections The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book (1894–1895), which also featured stories about other characters.

Name and inspiration

In the stories, the name Mowgli is said to mean "bald", describing his lack of fur. Kipling later said "Mowgli is a name I made up. It does not mean 'frog' in any language that I know of."

Part of Kipling's inspiration for the story of Mowgli is believed to have been William Henry Sleeman's account of six cases in India in which wild children had been raised by wolves. That account was first published in the first volume of Sleeman's Journey Through the Kingdom of Oude in 1848-1850 (1858) and reprinted in 1852 as An Account of Wolves Nurturing Children in Their Dens, by an Indian Official and in The Zoologist (1888 12 (135): 87-98). One most notable feral child was found in the wolf's den at the Bulandshahr district in 1867 and subsequently brought to the Sikandra orphanage at Agra, where he was given the name Dina Sanichar.

Kipling's Mowgli stories

The Mowgli stories, including "In the Rukh", were first collected in chronological order in one volume as The Works of Rudyard Kipling Volume VII: The Jungle Book (1907) (Volume VIII of this series contained the non-Mowgli stories from the Jungle Books), and subsequently in All the Mowgli Stories (1933).

"In the Rukh" describes how Gisborne, an English forest ranger in the Pench area in Seoni at the time of the British Raj, discovers a young man named Mowgli, who has extraordinary skills in hunting, tracking, and driving wild animals (with the help of his wolf brothers). He asks him to join the forestry service. Muller, the head of the Department of Woods and Forests of India as well as Gisborne's boss, meets Mowgli, checks his elbows and knees, noting the callouses and scars, and figures Mowgli is not using magic or demons, having seen a similar case in 30 years of service. Muller also invites Mowgli to join the service, to which Mowgli agrees. Later, Gisborne learns the reason for Mowgli's almost superhuman talents; he was raised by a pack of wolves in the jungle (explaining the scars on his elbows and knees from going on all fours). Mowgli marries the daughter of Gisborne's butler, Abdul Gafur, and conceives a son with her.

Kipling then proceeded to write the stories of Mowgli's childhood in detail in The Jungle Book, which serves as a prequel to In the Rukh. Lost by his parents as a baby in the Indian jungle during a tiger attack, he is adopted by the Wolf Mother, Raksha and Father Wolf, who call him Mowgli (frog) because of his lack of fur and his refusal to sit still. Shere Khan the tiger demands that they give him the baby but the wolves refuse. Mowgli grows up with the pack, hunting with his brother wolves. In the pack, Mowgli learns he is able to stare down any wolf, and his unique ability to remove the painful thorns from the paws of his brothers is deeply appreciated as well.

Bagheera, the black panther, befriends Mowgli because both he and Mowgli have parallel childhood experiences; as Bagheera often mentions, he was "raised in the King's cages at Oodeypore" from a cub, and thus knows the ways of man. Baloo the bear, teacher of wolves, has the thankless task of educating Mowgli in "The Law of the Jungle".

Shere Khan continues to regard Mowgli as fair game, but eventually Mowgli finds a weapon he can use against the tiger – fire. After driving off Shere Khan, Mowgli goes to a human village where he is adopted by Messua and her husband, whose own son Nathoo was also taken by a tiger. It is uncertain if Mowgli is actually the returned Nathoo, although it is stated in "Tiger! Tiger!" that the tiger who carried off Messua's son was similar to the one that attacked Mowgli's parents. Messua would like to believe that her son has returned, but she herself realises that this is unlikely.

While herding buffalo for the village, Mowgli learns that the tiger is still planning to kill him, so with the aid of two wolves, he traps Shere Khan in a ravine where the buffalo trample him. The tiger dies and Mowgli sets to skin him. After being accused of witchcraft and cast out of the village, Mowgli returns to the jungle with Shere Khan's hide and reunites with his wolf family, but it is mentioned that he later becomes married and goes back to the man village.

In later stories in The Jungle Book's sequel, The Second Jungle Book, Mowgli learns that the villagers are planning to kill Messua and her husband for harboring him. He rescues them and sends elephants, water buffaloes, and other animals to trample the village and its fields to the ground. Later, Mowgli finds and then discards an ancient treasure ("The King's Ankus"), not realising it is so valuable that men would kill to own it. With the aid of Kaa the python, he leads the wolves in a war against the dhole ("Red Dog").

Finally, Mowgli stumbles across the village where his adopted human mother (Messua) is now living, which forces him to come to terms with his humanity and decide whether to rejoin his fellow humans in "The Spring Running".

Play adaptations

Rudyard Kipling adapted the Mowgli stories for The Jungle Play in 1899, but the play was never produced on stage. The manuscript was lost for almost a century. It was published in book form in 2000.

Influences upon other works

Only six years after the first publication of The Jungle Book, E. Nesbit's The Wouldbegoods (1899) included a passage in which some children act out a scene from the book.

Mowgli has been cited as a major influence on Edgar Rice Burroughs who created and developed the character Tarzan. Mowgli was also an influence for a number of other "wild boy" characters.

Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson used the Mowgli stories as the basis for their humorous 1957 science fiction short story "Full Pack (Hokas Wild)". This is one of a series featuring a teddy bear-like race called Hokas who enjoy human literature but cannot quite grasp the distinction between fact and fiction. In this story, a group of Hokas get hold of a copy of The Jungle Book and begin to act it out, enlisting the help of a human boy to play Mowgli. The boy's mother, who is a little bemused to see teddy bears trying to act like wolves, tags along to try to keep him (and the Hokas) out of trouble. The situation is complicated by the arrival of three alien diplomats who just happen to resemble a monkey, a tiger and a snake. This story appears in the collection Hokas Pokas! (1998) and is also available online.

Mowgli stories by other writers

The Third Jungle Book (1992) by Pamela Jekel is a collection of new Mowgli stories in a fairly accurate pastiche of Kipling's style.

Hunting Mowgli (2001) by Maxim Antinori is a very short novel which describes a fateful meeting between Mowgli and a human hunter.

The Jungle Book: Last of the Species (2013) by Mark L. Miller is a series of comic books that tells the story of a female Mowgli who unintentionally started a war between animal tribes after killing Shere Khan to avenge the fallen members of the wolf tribe.

Mowgli's Missionary (2017) by James Penrice is a novel which describes Mowgli's unusual encounter with a missionary.

Mi Hermano Lobo (My Brother Wolf) (2020) by Rafael Jaime is a short self published Mexican memoir written in Spanish in which the author details the deep emotional and physical impact Disney's animated version of Mowgli had during his lonely early childhood years as a symbolic "surrogate twin brother" figure and role model after learning about his real twin brother's death one day after their preterm birth. It also includes an exclusive interview with Diana Santos who voiced the character in the Latin American Spanish dub of the 1967 film. An audiobook version narrated by the author was uploaded on YouTube in September 2021. It is similar in tone to the 2016 documentary Life, Animated.

Feral Dreams: Mowgli and his Mothers (2020) by Stephen Alter is a novel which describes Mowgli's harrowing process in trying to adapt to civilization and his coming of age within the walls of an orphanage located in the Gangetic Plain and run by Miss Cranston, an American missionary who christens him Daniel. At the same time, Mowgli recalls some of his adventures in the jungle prior to his abduction and desperately yearns for his freedom. In this story Mowgli is raised by an elephant matriarch.

Films, television and radio

Actors who played the character

Mowgli has been played by many actors. In the 1942 film adaptation, Mowgli was played by Sabu Dastagir. In the 1994 film adaptation, he was played by Sean Naegeli as a child, and later throughout the film he was played by Jason Scott Lee. In The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli and Baloo, he was played by Jamie Williams. In The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story, he was played by Brandon Baker, Ryan Taylor and off-screen by Fred Savage. Mowgli was played by Neel Sethi and by Kendrick Reyes as a toddler in the Disney live-action reimagination, which was released in 3D in April 2016. Mowgli was played by Rohan Chand in Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, released in November 2018.

See also

References

  1. ^ Sale, Roger (1978). "Kipling's Boy's". Fairy Tales and After: from Snow White to E.B. White. Harvard Univ. Press. ISBN 0-674-29157-3.
  2. "Kipling's list of names". www.kiplingsociety.co.uk. 30 March 2007. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
  3. Hotchkiss, Jane (2001). "The jungle of Eden: Kipling, wolf boys, and the colonial imagination". Victorian Literature and Culture. 29 (2): 435–449. doi:10.1017/s1060150301002108. S2CID 162409338.
  4. Sleeman, W.H. (1858). A journey through the kingdom of Oude in 1849–1850. Volume 1. London: Richard Bentley. pp. 206–222.
  5. Zingg, Robert M. (1940). "Feral Man and Extreme Cases of Isolation". The American Journal of Psychology. 53 (4): 487–517. doi:10.2307/1417630. JSTOR 1417630.
  6. "Real Story of Mowgli Netflix Movie: Who was Mowgli. The Jungle Book character & how did it inspire Netflix's 2018 Hindi movie Mowgli". GQ India. December 7, 2018. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  7. Sorabji, Caroline (1904). The Wide World Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly of True Narrative, Travel, Customs, and Sport. George Newnes. p. 38.
  8. The Jungle Play: UK paperback edition: ISBN 0-14-118292-X
  9. Mowgli's Missionary. ASIN 1520857314.
  10. "Entrevista a Diana Santos sobre 'El Libro de la Selva' (1967) - (12 de enero de 2020) HD". YouTube. July 16, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  11. "Entrevista a Diana Santos en... Talentos de voz. Parte 1/3". YouTube. February 7, 2022. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  12. "Entrevista a Diana Santos en... Talentos de voz. Parte 2/3". YouTube. February 7, 2022. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  13. "Mi Hermano Lobo (el Audiolibro) - (2021) HD". YouTube. September 21, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  14. "20 20 Finding Owen A Boys Story Life Animated". YouTube. November 6, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  15. Feral Dreams: Mowgli and his Mothers – via Amazon.
  16. Kumar, Anu (27 January 2016). "Sabu Dastagir, the actor who crossed over to Hollywood on the back of an elephant". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
  17. Bruce Reitherman (2007). The Jungle Book audio commentary. The Jungle Book, Platinum Edition, Disc 1
  18. Johnson, Walter (November 19, 1999). "Quick takes". Knoxville News Sentinel. Knoxville, Tennessee. p. 79.
  19. Smith, Patrick (2016-04-25). "We don't wanna be like you: how Soviet Russia made its own, darker Jungle Book". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
  20. "'The Jungle Book' is the king of Disney animated movies". 26 March 2019. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
  21. "Image: jbcomic1-big.jpg, (722 × 1014 px)". p-synd.com. Retrieved 2015-09-04.
  22. "Image: jbcomic2-big.jpg, (785 × 1110 px)". p-synd.com. Retrieved 2015-09-04.
  23. "Image: jbcomic3-big.jpg, (783 × 1100 px)". p-synd.com. Retrieved 2015-09-04.
  24. "Morecambe&Wise - The Jungle Book - I Wanna Be Like You - Disney spoof". YouTube. December 14, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  25. Hamad, Marwa (October 17, 2018). "'Jungle Book' actor Neel Sethi eyes superhero films". Gulf News. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  26. ^ Kit, Borys (20 August 2014). "Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett Join 'Jungle Book: Origins'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  27. "Mi Hermano Lobo (2024) - Cortometraje Completo (Subtitulado)". YouTube. December 3, 2024. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  28. Parte 6: Cosas que Jamás Soñaste Ver: Las Inspiraciones. 2024-12-03. Event occurs at 7:43. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
  29. Parte 3: Sentirse Libre por Primera Vez: Campamentos de Verano y 'El Libro de la Selva' en el Escultismo. 2024-12-03. Event occurs at 0:55. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
  30. "Matthew Labyorteaux". Biography.com. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  31. Parte 8: Inocencia, Libertad y Camaradería: Los Personajes). 2024-12-03. Event occurs at 4:06. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
  32. Mi Hermano Lobo (2024) - Cortometraje Completo (Subtitulado). 2024-12-03. Event occurs at 24:07. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
  33. Medina, Malú (December 8, 2024). "Mi hermano lobo: Un documental sobre la obtención de la libertad". La Jornada Morelos. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  34. "Mi Hermano Lobo (Cortometraje)". Facebook. December 4, 2024. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  35. "Jonathan Larson Papers".
  36. Sinha-Roy, Piya (November 8, 2018). "Watch Netflix's new trailer for Andy Serkis' dark twist on The Jungle Book tale, Mowgli". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  37. Ford, Rebecca (6 April 2016). "Warner Bros. Pushes 'Jungle Book' to 2018, 'Wonder Woman' Gets New Date". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 6 April 2016.

External links

  • In the Rukh: Mowgli's first appearance from Kipling's Many Inventions
  • The Jungle Book Collection and Wiki: a website demonstrating the variety of merchandise related to the book and film versions of The Jungle Books, now accompanied by a Wiki on The Jungle Books and related subjects
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