I remembered the name of Mowgli's friend the Black Panther. Turns out it is name of a fabric, an unshorn velvet that is wrinkle resistant, and heavy enough to make coats. Seems likely Kipling had seen the fabric, and it reminded him of panther's fur.

I deleted stitch mention.

i don't know any sewing stitch called bagheera, and would be interested to see it...

but curiously, the most common stitch for sewing fur, is a stitch identical to the one used for sewing the seam on baseballs (a half underhand stitch) and i am told the same stitch is used to sew blood vessels together.. so Dr bill, what do you know about cardiac surgery? or Doc Comfort? or Alex? and cardiac surgeons out there to confirm or deny the story?

(is is used the the same reasons, strong, results in neat, tightly butted edges, and resist twisting.)

Dear of troy: I mis-read the stitch part. I thought it meant bagheera was also name of kind of blind stitch/


1.Textile Terminology
... Bagheera, Term used for uncut dyed velvet cloth to be used ... Blinding, Removal of lustre
of textiles. Blind Stitch, A sewing stitch not visible on the face of ...
http://apparel.indiamart.com/lib/textile/terminology09171998.html

Remember Riki-tiki-tavi's prime enemy, Nag?

the Cobra or Nag as it is known in India. The word ‘Cobra’ is from the Portuguese ‘Cobra de
Capello’ meaning ‘hooded serpent’.

and naga is the Indonesian for dragon.

Bingley