Amala and Kamala

Amala (Bengali: অমলা; about 1919- died 21 September 1921) and Kamala (Bengali: কমলা; died 14 November 1929) were two "feral girls" from Bengal, India, who were alleged to have been raised by a wolf family.

Their story attracted substantial mainstream attention and debate. However the account was reported and promoted by only one source, the clergyman who claimed to have discovered the girls. Because of this, there is some controversy as to the authenticity of the story with some researchers arguing that the girls were autistic. French surgeon Serge Aroles concluded in his book L'Enigme des enfants-loup (Enigma of the Wolf-Children, 2007) that the story was a hoax.

In 1926, Joseph Amrito Lal Singh, the rector of the local orphanage, published an account in the The Statesman published from Calcutta saying that the two girls were given to him by a man who lived in the jungle near the village of Godamuri, in the district of Midnapore, west of Calcutta, and that the girls, when he first saw them, lived in a sort of cage near the house. Later, he claimed that he himself rescued the girls from the wolves' den on 9 October 1920. He named the children and wrote his observations of them in a "diary" (consisting of loose sheets, some dated and some undated) for almost ten years — which, if accurate, would represent one of the best documented efforts to observe and rehabilitate feral children. The diary entry of 17 October 1920 states, "...the mother wolf, whose nature was so ferocious and affection so sublime. It struck me with wonder. I was simply amazed to think that an animal had such a noble feeling surpassing even that of mankind ... to bestow all the love and affection of a fond and ideal mother on these peculiar beings." Kamala was at the time about eight years old, Amala about 18 months.

Singh claims in his diary that, at the orphanage, the two girls showed wolf-like behaviour typical for feral children. They would not allow themselves to be dressed, scratched and bit people who tried to feed them, rejected cooked food and walked on all fours. Both girls had developed thick calluses on their palms and knees from having walked on all fours. The girls were mostly nocturnal, had an aversion to sunshine, and could see very well in the dark. They also exhibited an acute sense of smell and an enhanced ability to hear.

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