Yesterday I saw cleaning my shelf when I came across a very old Akbar and Birbal story book of mine. I remembered how fond I was of the book and had read it repeatedly thrice until my dad bought me a new one. Also do you remember the famous Tenali Raman cartoon series on Pogo channel? They had amazing stories illustrating the wittiness of Tenali. In this article I will list some of the great courtiers of all time who influenced the kings and their kingdoms by their brilliant work

Birbal

Birbal, a Hindu Brahmin is amongst the nine jewels of Mughal Emperor Akbar. Birbal was considered to be very close to Emperor Akbar. In folklores it’s often shown how Birbal influenced Akbar’s major decisions and had major impact in all the economic and political matters of the state. But in actual life, there is no such evidences of such a role of Birbal. In history, he is often praised as a courtier of Akbar with immense capacity and geniuses and to be very generous, disciplined, religious and confidant of the Emperor Akbar. Birbal was very renowned for his witty poetries. His poems rose to fame in north India when the Mughal Empire became stable in Akbar’s reign. Also he was the only Hindu to adopt Din-i IIlahi, religion founded by Akbar. The famous Akbar and Birbal stories got its popularity after the end of Akbar’s reign. The spread of the stories initially were done orally, later were printed as stories and now are also telecasted on cartoon network as animated series.

Tenali Ramakrishna

Tenali Raman was the famous Telugu court poet of King Krishnadevaraya, the Emperor of Vijayanagara. He was called “vikata kavi” meaning a clown jester poet. Tenali was a Hindu Brahmin by birth. Tenali didn’t receive any primary education, but he became an eminent scholar due to his eagerness to learn and gain knowledge. There is a famous tale associated with Tenali. Tenali was born Shaivite, those who follow Lord Shiva and his original name is Tenali Ramalinga. But he wanted to become Vaishnava, devotee of Lord Vishnu when he was rejected. Then once met a sage who asked him to pray goddess Kali. Impressed, goddess Kali appeared in front of him and blessed him that he would become a renowned comic poet in the court of King Krishnadevaraya. Later he was converted to Vaishnava. He has many poems and literary works written that gained immense popularity. There is also a popular story of how Tenali protected the empire of Vijayanagara from the Delhi Sultanate demonstrating his wits and timely strategies. Even today folklores on Tenali Raman are still popular.

Chanakya

Who doesn’t know about him! A man with extreme wits and unbeatable strategies. He is very well known for his statesmanship. Chanakya was the chief advisor and minister in the court of King Chandragupta Maurya of the Maurya dynasty. He was also the teacher of Chandragupta Maurya. It was under his statesmanship that the Maurya Empire laid its foundation and rose to power. He is a great pioneer of political sciences. Chanakya was well versed in three Vedas and politics. Chanakya is famous for his work of Arthashastra and Chanakya Niti.