Bagheera

Bagheera (बघीरा; بگیڑہ Baghīrā/Bagīdah) is a fictional character in Rudyard Kiplings 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.

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