Bagheera 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 the Raja of Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, Bagheera begins to plan for his freedom after his mother dies. Once he is mature and strong enough, he breaks the lock on his cage and escapes
Bagheera and bypasses Bagheera. Frustrated, he calls upon Colonel Hathi and his troops to block Baloo's path. When the villagers try to find Mowgli, he suspects that Baloo has brought him back. Bagheera confronts Baloo with the news and expresses his thoughts that maybe he has seen him. Baloo hides Mowgli from Bagheera and convinces Bagheera that he is not with him. Bagheera does not entirely believe this. He later joins Mowgli's younger adoptive brother Ranjan and Baloo as they hurry to save Mowgli from Shere Khan. When they reach the temple built on a lava lake, Bagheera waits outside with