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
Bagheera shows, the first Disney take on Kipling's work bore little resemblance to the story at all. Names of characters remained the same, but the characteristics of those characters were generally taken over in a musical new twist. Bagheera, though his captivity is not mentioned and his ferocity is understated for the sake of small children watching, remains just as proud, refined, and protective of Mowgli as he appeared in the writing of Kipling. “What do you think of Kipling? I don't know. I have never Kippled. — Victorian joke Judging from The Jungle Book, the last film he personally supervised,