Bagheera is a fictional character in Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book (coll. 1894) and The Second Jungle Book (coll. 1895). He is a black panther (melanistic Indian leopard) who serves as friend, protector and mentor to the “man-cub” Mowgli. The word bagheera is Hindustani for panther or leopard, although the root word bagh means tiger.
Bagheera is the wise and respectable black panther who lives in the Seoni jungle in India. His life changes when he discovers the infant man-cub, Mowgli, in a wrecked canoe and dedicates himself to ensure the safety of the young boy by putting him in the care of the wolves and watch over him until he is ready to rejoin humanity.
The Jungle Book takes a lot of creative liberties that deviate from the source material. However, Bagheera deviates the least from Kipling’s works out of all the characters in the film. Like in the books, Bagheera is Mowgli’s elegant, no-nonsense mentor but does not spoil Mowgli occasionally, nor is he as effeminate as his book counterpart.
Bagheera is a slender, black panther (Indian melanistic leopard). He has a gray muzzle, a pink nose, and black eyebrows. He has yellow eyes with black pupils, and a pair of numerous whiskers.
Credit : Fandom
Picture Credit : Google
