The Jungle book reads like an ode to a bygone era, for the India that it describes, the India of lush jungles and deep forests,
the India of wild and exotic animals, the land of hunters and the hunted, no longer exists today. The moot question is whether such an India ever existed, or was the romanticized product of Kipling’s imagination.
The colonial era, which was at its heyday during Kipling’s times, is also fading from public memory. What cannot be denied, however, is that Kipling succeeded in capturing the public mood and public imagination of that time. More than any historical record or study, it is to Kipling that we refer if we want to catch a flavor of those times. And, perhaps, that is the true measure of his lasting success.
The stories describe various aspects of what has endearingly been called “The Law of the Jungle” – a Law that is savage at times and noble at other times. There is no wanton killing, there is no pleasure at the kill; there is only a need and a necessity to be fulfilled, for such is life in the jungle.
In the context that they are placed, it seems natural that Kipling’s characters are animals. Though, strictly speaking, these are not animal stories but stories about life in the Terai (a stretch of dense jungle at the foothills of the Himalayan mountains).
At the same time, there is certain universality about these tales; they could have been placed in Africa, Indochina or the Amazon Delta. Perhaps, this universality is achieved by the use of animal characters instead of human beings. That there is magic in the portrayal of the characters is undeniable –a magic that has been brought to life by the special talent of Walt Disney studios.
The tales included in this collection are “Mowgli’s Brothers”, “Kaa’s Hunting”, “Tiger, Tiger”, “The White Seal”, “Rikkki-Tikki-Tavvi”, “Toomai of the Elephants” and “Her Majesty’s Servants”. Though it is not required to read these stories in any particular sequence, I would still recommend reading “Mowgli’s Brothers” first to get a backgrounder to the whole collection. My long-time favorite remains “Rikkki-Tikki-Tavvi”. Though children will no doubt enjoy it, by no stretch of imagination can it be termed a “children’s book”, for it contains important lessons about life and living for the rest of us ..