Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Pench Tiger Reserve officials celebrated the birth anniversary of famed writer Rudyard Kipling on Saturday. Kipling is known for his famous “The Jungle Book” which still continues to captivate readers across generations. The celebration of his birthday was an effort to raise a literary toast to the visionary wordsmith who brought Mowgli’s world, inspired by forests near Seoni and central India, to life.
To one’s astonishment, Rudyard Kipling had never stayed at Pench Tiger Reserve of Seoni but “The Jungle Book” brought a lot of fame to the reserve.
Deputy Director of Pench Tiger Reserve, Rajnesh Kumar told Free Press that during the time of British rule, Major General William Henry Sleeman was posted somewhere around Jabalpur. At that time, he had written a paper in the gazette, telling about the rescued child who had lived with wolves in the jungle and was non communicable.
When Rudyard Kipling came to Allahabad, he came to know about the wild boy who was raised along with wolves. He took inspiration from it and penned down the famous ‘The Jungle Book’. However, he used the real names of places of Seoni like Kanhiwada, Aligatta etc.
Kipling was born on December 30, 1865 in British India.
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