In Disney’s 2016 film The Jungle Book, Mowgli’s adoptive wolf mother is Raksha.
Raksha raises Mowgli within the wolf pack after he is brought to them as a baby. The film presents her as a devoted and protective parent who accepts him as one of her own cubs, even though he is human. Lupita Nyong’o provides Raksha’s voice in the 2016 adaptation.
The character originates in Kipling’s “Mowgli’s Brothers,” where Raksha is the wolf who defends the child against Shere Khan. Disney keeps the name and the protective relationship but expands her emotional role to emphasize Mowgli’s family bond with the pack.
Raksha is easy to confuse with Messua, the human woman who appears in Kipling’s Mowgli stories and recognizes Mowgli as her lost son. The two characters represent different parts of Mowgli’s identity: Raksha is his adoptive wolf mother, while Messua connects him to human society.