British Imperialism in the Late Nineteenth Century
When ‘‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’’ was initially published as part of the second volume of Kipling’s Jungle Book in 1895, Great Britain controlled the most formidable empire the world had ever witnessed. The Indian subcontinent was a significant part of this empire, and many ‘‘Anglo-Indians,’’ including Kipling himself, considered it their home. During Kipling’s era, imperialism was marked by the aggressive imposition of British rule and culture onto the native populations of various regions. However, imperialism was not merely about the British Empire’s colonization efforts; as historian Lerner notes in Western Civilizations: ‘‘To combat slave-trading, famine, filth, and illiteracy seemed to many a legitimate reason for invading the jungles of Africa and Asia.’’ British imperialism was underpinned by a belief in the superiority of British civilization and a perceived moral duty to bring their enlightened ways to the so-called ‘‘uncivilized’’ people of the world. This perspective was especially directed at nonwhite, non-Christian cultures in India, Asia, Australia, and Africa. This moralistic rationale served to justify the economic exploitation of other lands and peoples by the British Empire, leading to its accumulation of wealth and power. During Kipling’s time, this ideology was widely accepted and unchallenged by the British populace, and Kipling, like many of his contemporaries, reflected notions of cultural superiority and patriotism in much of his writing. By the early 2000s, his reputation suffered due to his racist support of British imperialism.

In the late Victorian era, British imperialist beliefs were so deeply entrenched that they appeared even in children’s literature—works designed to impart societal values and morals to young readers. ‘‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’’ serves as a prime example. The story highlights Rikki-tikki’s good fortune in becoming a ‘‘house-mongoose’’ in a British family’s home, specifically mentioning that his mother taught him to aspire to the homes of ‘‘white men.’’ This notion implies an idealization of British culture and a perceived inferiority of the non-white, Indian civilization under British dominance.

Social Darwinism
The late nineteenth century experienced a significant shift in philosophical, religious, and scientific theories following the mid-century publication of On the Origin of the Species, where Darwin introduced the groundbreaking theory of natural selection. Natural selection is the process where organisms with characteristics suited to their environment have a higher likelihood of survival, maturity, and reproduction, thereby passing on their traits to their offspring; whereas those less adapted to the environment are less likely to reach maturity and reproduce. Darwin’s theories revolutionized biological sciences, influenced religious beliefs, and altered existing conclusions in the physical and social sciences.

In the mid-1800s, Herbert Spencer, often recognized as the first social Darwinist, authored Social Statics, where he applied evolutionary biology theories to the analysis of human society. Spencer introduced the now well-known phrase "survival of the fittest," which illustrates the outcome of competition among various social groups of people. Social Darwinism was frequently utilized by those who believed in the dominance of one group over another—based on factors such as nationality or race—to justify inequitable power dynamics, institutional exploitation, and ideologies of superiority, including imperialism.

The story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," written during the peak of British imperialism forty-five years after Spencer, implicitly endorses the "survival of the fittest" concept from social Darwinism. The narrative centers on a struggle for survival between a mongoose and its human family on one side and a family of snakes on the other. The fact that the British family survives and continues to oversee the garden can be interpreted as a representation of the perceived strength, superiority, and resilience of the British rulers in India.

Setting: The Fantasy World
‘‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’’ exemplifies a trend in children’s literature prevalent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Similar to the works of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, Beatrix Potter, Kenneth Grahame, and J. M. Barrie, ‘‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’’ is set in a fantastical world: a garden inhabited by talking animals with unique personalities. Placing stories in imaginary settings was considered particularly engaging and suitable for children’s vivid imaginations. Before this era, stories were not specifically crafted from a child's perspective, and children's literature often consisted of adaptations from adult works, such as Shakespeare, the Bible, and classical literature.

Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the assignment of human traits to non-human entities, including animals, plants, and objects. In ‘‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,’’ the animal characters are endowed with distinct, humanlike personalities. This literary device is frequently used in children's literature to create a fantasy world that aligns with the imaginative minds of children. Anthropomorphism is a fundamental element of fables—simple moral tales like Aesop’s fables—that use talking animals to impart lessons about human behavior and ethics.

Epithet
An epithet is an adjectival phrase given as a title to a character, emphasizing a specific trait. For instance, in Greek mythology, the goddess Athena is often called ‘‘Grey-Eyed Athena.’’ In Homer’s epics, epithets are used to describe heroes, such as ‘‘Nestor, Breaker of Horses.’’ Similarly, Rikki-tikki-tavi is referred to as ‘‘Red-Eye,’’ and Darzee calls him ‘‘Killer of the terrible Nag’’ and ‘‘Rikki-tikki with the white teeth.’’ Kipling employs this classical technique to elevate Rikki-tikki-tavi’s story and underscore his status as a legendary hero.

Imitation of the Christian Hymn
‘‘Darzee’s Chaunt,’’ the song that Darzee sings to celebrate Nag’s death, appears at the end of the story. The song, which lauds Rikki-tikki-tavi for eliminating Nag from the garden, echoes Christian hymns of praise to Christ. In Christian belief, Christ is humanity's savior because, by dying and then rising from the dead, he conquered death and opened heaven to humanity. A common structure of Christian hymns involves praising Christ as the savior and urging others to do the same. ‘‘Darzee’s Chaunt’’ mirrors this hymnal style in its praise of Rikki-tikki-tavi, encouraging the other birds to honor him:

Sing to your fledglings again,
Mother, oh lift up your head!
Evil that plagued us is slain,
Death in the garden lies dead.

Just as Christ is exalted in Christian hymns for saving humanity from death, the song celebrates Rikki for saving the garden from Nag, who symbolizes Death. This hymnal imitation draws parallels between Rikki and Christ, as well as between Nag and Satan.

1890s: English readers are captivated by portrayals of "exotic" British colonies like India. These stories are primarily penned by British authors such as Rudyard Kipling and E. M. Forster, who depict India from the viewpoint of the British colonizer.

Today: Ethnic Indian writers and novelists, such as Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy, provide the early twenty-first-century English-speaking audience with award-winning works that portray Indian life and culture from an Indian perspective.

1890s: England controls the largest empire worldwide, with India being one of its most significant and crucial territories.

Today: India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, once part of the Indian Empire under British rule, are now independent, self-governing nations. However, British influences remain strong, including governmental structures and the adoption of English as an official language.

1890s: British imperialism is driven by a racist belief in white British superiority over non-white nations, justifying their government-approved conquest and domination of other races.

Today: Although racism persists, human rights movements in the United States and Europe throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have created significant cultural and political opposition to government-endorsed racist policies in Western countries.

‘‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’’ was turned into an animated film in 1975. Directed by Chuck Jones and narrated by Orson Welles, this film is available on VHS from Family Home Entertainment, with a reissue in 2001.

A downloadable audio recording of stories from The Jungle Books, featuring ‘‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,’’ can be found at http://www.audible.com. This version is narrated by Flo Gibson.

Sources
Eliot, T. S., A Choice of Kipling’s Verse, Faber & Faber, 1941, pp. 5–36.

Kipling, Rudyard, ‘‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,’’ in The Jungle Books, Golden Press, 1963, pp. 123–33.

Lerner, Robert E., Standish Meacham, and Edward McNall Burns, Western Civilization: Their History and Their Culture, Norton, 1993, pp. 811–39.

Orwell, George, ‘‘Rudyard Kipling,’’ in Collected Essays, Secker & Warburg, 1961, pp. 179–94.

Wheatcroft, Geoffrey, ‘‘A White Man’s Burden: Rudyard Kipling’s Pathos and Prescience,’’ in Harper’s Magazine, September 2002, pp. 81–84.

Further Reading
Cain, Peter, and Tony Hopkins, British Imperialism, 1688–2000, 2d ed., Longman, 2001. When this comprehensive history of the British Empire was first published, it was received with critical acclaim. It was later updated to relate imperialism to modern-day international politics.

Ferguson, Niall, Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power, Basic Books, 2003. Ferguson offers a history of British imperialism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and applies it to the international policies of the twenty-first century.

Gilmour, David, The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. Kipling’s legacy endured a long history of vilification, but this biography offers a fresh, early twenty-first-century perspective on his life and ideologies.

Mallett, Phillip, Rudyard Kipling: A Literary Life, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Mallett concentrates especially on Kipling’s writing life and family life.