SHOWDOWN IN SEONI – THE JUNGLE BOOK

If you think about the story of Mowgli, you can’t help but think about his mortal enemy: the tiger Shere Khan.

Shere Khan (which can be translated as “King Tiger” in English) is a large male Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) who spreads terror with his power and ferocity in the jungles of Seoni, in central India. He hates humans and has a fear of fire. Another characteristic of his is that, despite being a tiger and thus an extremely vigorous animal, he carries a disability with him. He is crippled from birth, which earns him the nickname “Lungri” (meaning “the lame one” in Hindi).

Due to this handicap, Shere Khan is forced to feed on domestic livestock, which are much easier to capture than wild prey, thus drawing the hatred of humans upon himself.

Reading the novel, it is also discovered that the tiger does not disdain human flesh. Not only does he attempt to kill Mowgli’s parents, but throughout the rest of the story, his goal is to eat the man-cub before he can grow up and become a serious threat to the tiger himself.

Although the character of Shere Khan was born from Rudyard Kipling’s imagination, his relationship with humans and especially with Mowgli could have been inspired by the crime reports found in the many regional newspapers of Uttar Pradesh or West Bengal regions.