ABSTRACT
As the title indicates, the first part of the paper focuses on Mowgli, his nurture by Father and Mother Wolf, and his education through his own experiences in the world of the jungle and the world of men as well as through the instruction he receives on the Law of the Jungle which governs all jungle life. The second part of the paper focuses on the Law of the Jungle, the ‘manifest theme’ of The Jungle Books, which ensures security, promotes social cohesion, and teaches Mowgli the values of fairness, justice, love, and loyalty. The paper takes issue with the interpretation of The Jungle Books as a fable of imperial education with Mowgli as a type of colonial ruler and the Law as an instrument of oppression and argues that any attempt to offer a sustained reading of the Mowgli stories along political lines results in distortion and diverts attention from the ‘profound truths’ underlying Kipling’s work. The final part of the paper suggests that the Law of the Jungle and The Jungle Books as a whole show the impact of the Panchatantra, the book of animal tales which teaches the wise conduct of life and presents the noble ideal of an integrated, unified, and cohesive society. The paper concludes by distinguishing Kipling’s work from other classics for children with animal characters written around the same time and points to the combination of realism and romanticism in the Mowgli stories which make Kipling the ‘great originator’.
