Bandar-log


Bandar-log is a term used in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book to describe the monkeys of the Seeonee jungle.

Description

In Hindi, Bandar means "monkey" and log means "group of" – hence the term simply refers to a "group of monkeys". The term has also since come to refer to "any body of irresponsible chatterers."

History

The Bandar-log feature most prominently in the story "Kaa's Hunting", where their scatterbrained anarchy causes them to be treated as pariahs by the rest of the jungle. Their foolish and chattering ways are illustrated by their slogan: We are great. We are free. We are wonderful. We are the most wonderful people in all the jungle! We all say so, and so it must be true. Bandar-log communicate almost entirely through the repetition of other animals' speech.
The Road-Song of the Bandar-log is a companion poem to 'Kaa's Hunting', and demonstrates Kipling's strong adherence to poetic form.

In other media