The famous literary work The Jungle Book by writer Rudyard Kipling was composed based on his recollections during his time living in India. The book is about a boy named Mowgli , who wanders in the Indian jungle and is adopted by wild animals.
Many people believe that the archetype of Mowgli is Dina Sanichar . Like Mowgli, Dina Sanichar is a wild boy raised by wolves, though his life is much different from that of the fictional character in the series. Unlike Mowgli, Dina Sanichar did not have such a wonderful life, he suffered a mental breakdown after years of reintegration into human society.
Many people believe that the archetype of Mowgli is Dina Sanichar.
In 1872, deep in the jungles of Uttar Pradesh in northern India, a group of hunters were forced to stop and bewildered at what lay ahead. A pack of wolves was walking together in the forest, followed by a small child crawling on both legs and arms. Soon after, the hunters killed the wolves and captured this strange boy.
The baby was about 6 years old, literally raised by wolves. It has a beast-like appearance, does not speak but only growls and groans. Fingernails and toenails are sharp, body stinks and face is covered with hair.
The hunters took the baby to an orphanage. There, the boy was baptized and named Dina Sanichar, which in Urdu means Saturday.
Sanichar was struggling with his new life and was seen as a fool.
Father Erhardt is the administrator and caretaker of this orphanage. He recounted that Sanichar only ate raw meat, did not like to wear clothes and liked to chew bones to grind his teeth.
Sanichar eats only raw meat, does not like to wear clothes and likes to chew bones to grind his teeth.
Children usually learn to speak in the first two years of life. Some babies learn to say words like “dad” and “grandma” as young as six months old and within a few years will begin to form clear sentences. These milestones coincide with mental, emotional, and behavioral development. However, despite the efforts of experts, the “wolf boy” could never speak or write in human language. Instead, he communicated by growling and howling like wild wolves.
Having difficulty integrating into the human community, Sanichar refuses to make friends, and will even bite anyone who comes near. Sanichar befriends only one boy. It was “the wolf of Krondstadt” , a wild child who was also discovered with the wolves and brought to this orphanage. The two children seem to have a strange connection. They act like each other, get close and stay together, even teaching each other survival skills like drinking water or picking up food.
Sanichar refuses to make friends with anyone, and will even bite anyone who comes near.
After more than 20 years of human contact, Dina Sanichar has also learned to walk on two legs and wear clothes. However, Sanichar continued to smell all foods before eating them, and he always avoided anything but raw meat. At this time, Sanichar still did not speak a human language and lived separately from anyone.
The only habit Sanichar learned from that man was smoking, and soon he became a smoker. In 1895, he died of tuberculosis.
Strangely, Dina Sanichar was not the only wolf child to appear in India in the late 19th century. In 1892, a missionary found a wild child in the Jalpaiguri region. The following year, a child eating live frogs was discovered in Batzipur near Dalsingarai. In 1898, a wild child was discovered in Sultanpur, after 14 years of living with humans, he still could not fit into this new society.
Most of the feral babies found in India have a hard time adapting to human society.
In the years that followed, there were many more reports of such feral children. However, many people believe that this is just a hoax staged to attract public attention. For example, a famous incident involving two girls named Amala, 3 years old and Kamala 8 years old, were found in Bengal, India in 1920 while in the midst of a pack of wolves. The man who found the two children, Joseph Singh, described the children howling at the sight of the moon, walking on bare feet and eating only raw meat. He tried to teach them how to walk and talk. Researchers were fascinated by this story and have written books about them. However, then an investigation caused the truth to come out. These girls have developmental disabilities and birth defects. The two girls were not raised by wolves, but everything was arranged by Singh to deceive people.
And is the story of Dina Sanichar just a hoax or was it really raised by wolves? Who is Dina Sanichar and what happened in his past? It’s all still a complete mystery. However, it is a clear fact that most feral children found in India find it difficult to adapt to human society, and end up tragic and lonely.