Meet Dina Sanichar, real-life Mowgli who inspired The Jungle Book, neither spoke nor wore clothes, ate raw meat

Since childhood, we have all heard the story of The Jungle Book and Mowgli and have been fascinated by it. But, if The Jungle Book is one of your favourite books you might also want to hear about Dina Sanichar, the real-life Mowgli who was born in the jungles of India. Many are unaware that Dina was Rudyard Kipling’s inspiration for the iconic book. 

Dina Sanichar was born in the 1800s. When he was a young boy, in 1867, a group of hunters found him while tracking a wolf in the jungles of Uttar Pradesh. It was this time when the hunters found a naked boy in the corner of a small cave. 

When the hunters tried to communicate with the boy, they realized he did not know how to speak, nor he understood the human language. They later realised that he was the "wolf boy" - a feral child. 

The hunters who found Dina took him back to their village and then dropped him off at the Sikandra Mission Orphanage in Agra. He was given the name Sanichar which means "Saturday" in Urdu. He was given this name as he was found on this day.

Although Dina was given a name and a roof over his head, the orphanage was not the best place for him. The staff at the orphanage did their best to care for Dina, but they didn’t know how to communicate with him properly.

It is said that when he reached there, he was walking like an animal. He could not stand on his feet. Not only this, he did not even speak. Whenever he had to say something, he used to sound like a fox. He didn't even like to wear clothes and used to eat raw meat. He gradually got used to eating cooked food like humans. He lived among humans for about twenty years but could not learn to speak.

Oddly, while living with the human Dina picked up on the habit of smoking cigarettes from the caretakers. It was smoking that took a toll on Dina's health. He eventually died of Tuberculosis in 1895. Sanichar lived a very short life and died at the age of 34.