The World of Courts, Courtiers, Court Jesters and Fools

Barbed Words

- Pushpesh Pant

Lest the Honourable and Learned Lordships haul us up for contempt and throw us to the dogs in the jail, we hasten to clarify that we are not referring to the courts that dispense justice but royal courts of yore that are being reincarnated in what we thought were modern polities—democracies or authoritarian regimes of different shades.

Glittering courts were presided over by Romans, Chinese Khans, Krishna Deva Raya who ruled over the fabulously wealthy Vijayanagara empire, Turks and the Grand Moguls in India and the Sultans in Deccan. The Nine Gems of Akbar’s court are as famous as their patron but other majesties also had viziers and amatyas no less gifted and dedicated to the welfare of the state and the subjects of the monarch.

Fast forward to present day and the court of the foul-mouthed ‘uncrowned’ King-Emperor of the US. His courtiers are spitting images of their boss—braggarts, bullies and buffoons. Some may object to the word uncrowned. Hasn’t Donald Trump won both the electoral college and the popular vote convincingly. Despite his impeachment and convictions for acts of moral turpitude and well-founded allegations of inciting an insurrection more than half the Americans gave him the mandate to rule once again. What more is required for anointment and crowning?