Bagheera worried about what his child will find around the next corner, the big cat who knows he has to let go just a little but can't find it in himself to do so". Bagheera Bagheera (; "Baghīrā"/"Bagīdah") 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 Hindi/Urdu for black panther-- although the root word bagh means tiger. Born in captivity in the menagerie of
Raksha (The Jungle Book) Raksha (The Jungle Book) Raksha ( / "Rakšā" or Mother Wolf as initially named) is a fictional character featured in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories, collected in "The Jungle Book" and "The Second Jungle Book". She is a female Indian wolf, member of the Seeonee pack, who while suckling her own cubs decides also to adopt a human "cub" that her mate Father Wolf has found wandering in the jungle, naming him "Mowgli" (which means "frog" in the Speech of the Jungle) because of his hairlessness. Defying the tiger Shere Khan, who is determined to eat the man-cub, she reveals that