Who is your favorite historical figure?

There are soooo many… but I’ll stick with some for now.

Let’s be real for a second. The world right now feels a bit… leechy, doesn’t it? Between the constant “Be more, Give more” of today and a reality that feels increasingly disconnected, I often find myself taking a detour. I look toward the people of the past, the “irrelevant” past. Not the history of body counts and borderlines, but the kind that offers a mirror to the soul.

We meet these figures through the doorways of old books, school lessons, or random quotes. Maybe my love for them is just a “confirmatory bias” built in my childhood, but these seven figures have become the foreground of my life. They are my Seven Mirrors, and here is why they matter to me more than ever.

1. The Compassionate: Vel Pari

In my Tamil literature classes, everyone was obsessed with the “Big Three” : the Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas, the kings who conquered everything and everyone where their eyes touch. But my heart stayed on Parambu Hill with Vel Pari.

• The History: Beyond the famous story of surrendering his royal chariot to a climbing jasmine vine (Mullai-ku-ther-koduthan), Pari was known for a rare kind of sovereignty. While other kings taxed their people into poverty to fund wars, Pari’s Parambu Nadu was so well-nurtured that it was said the land spontaneously provided four types of food, without the need for gruelling labour.
• The Connection: In a world where leadership is often confused with being an “alpha,” Pari is the antidote. He was a devoted husband and father who treated every bit of life as sacred. He’s my reminder that you don’t have to be a shark to be a king.

2. The Greatest: Avvaiyar

If Pari is the heart, Avvaiyar is the backbone. I met her through the same ancient verses, and honestly, what a powerhouse.

• The History: She was a master of “diplomacy through poetry.” When King Athiyaman showed her his arsenal of weapons, expecting praise, she famously wrote a poem subtly mocking the pristine, unused weapons of a “show-off” king compared to the blood-stained, broken tools of a real warrior. She used her wit to humiliate the arrogant and prevent senseless bloodshed.
• The Connection: She is the North Star for anyone navigating life on their own terms. Single, value-driven, and creatively free in an era that tried to box women in, she is the grandmother of everyone who refuses to follow the “traditional” script.

3. The Powerful: Marcus Aurelius

This one feels cosmic. Marcus Aurelius, the most powerful man in the Roman world, died on March 17th. Well, I was born on March 18th (Getting a bit cheeky here), centuries apart, but I still kind of feel a weird connection with him.

• The History: Aurelius faced the “Antonine Plague,” constant Germanic wars, and the betrayal of his closest generals. Yet, in his private journals (Meditations), he never complained. He wrote that “the best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.” He held the world in his hands but refused to let it corrupt his heart.
• The Connection: Reading his words feels like a letter from a mentor who knows exactly how chaotic my brain gets. He sat at the top of an empire and realized the only thing he could truly control was his own mind. He turned my chaos into gratitude.

4. The Honest: William Wordsworth

I’ve always felt like a bit of a “weirdo” for wanting to ditch the city noise for a quiet forest. Then I found Wordsworth.

• The History: At a time when poetry was for the “elite,” Wordsworth performed a radical act of honesty. He wrote the Lyrical Ballads to prove that the life of a simple shepherd or a girl in the woods was as worthy of “Greatness” as any king. He stripped away the flowery masks of the 18th century to reveal the raw, honest connection between the human mind and the earth.
• The Connection: He validates the side of me that hates the capitalist grind. He tells me it’s okay to just be, to wander “lonely as a cloud” and find peace in the silence of nature.

5. The Ambitious: Cleopatra

People tell me I resemble Cleopatra in appearance, but I am more interested in the steel in her soul.

• The History: Forget the Hollywood myths; Cleopatra was a tactical genius. She was the only member of her Greek-descended dynasty to actually learn the Egyptian language. she was a scientist and a naval commander who managed to keep Egypt independent from Rome’s hunger for years through sheer intellectual maneuvering.

• The Connection: She is my permission to be ambitious. In a world that still tries to quiet powerful women, Cleopatra is the roar. She reminds me that ambition isn’t a word of restriction for woman in any generation of time, it’s how you build a legacy in a man’s world.

6. The Humblest: Princess Diana

Diana is the reason I never want to lose my “human touch.”

• The History: Her humility was a form of rebellion. In 1987, when the world was terrified of the HIV/AIDS crisis, she walked into an asylum and shook hands with a patient without gloves. With that one humble, “un-royal” gesture, she did more to educate the world than a thousand medical pamphlets. She also taught us that men tend to cheat even if they are married to the most amazing and beautiful woman on the planet. She fought back against an entire system that had normalised it, holding her head high. And she never chickens out in any situation despite her gentle aura.

• The Connection: She’s my lesson in staying “inside-out” beautiful. She proved that no matter how high the system places you, your real value is found in how reachable you are to those who are hurting.

7. The Loyal: Hachiko

Finally, there’s Hachiko. I know, he’s not a “person,” but his story is more human than most.

• The History: For 9 years, 9 months, and 15 days, this Akita returned to Shibuya Station at the exact moment his deceased master’s train was due. He survived on the kindness of strangers, enduring heat and snow, simply because his internal clock was set to “Loyalty.”
• The Connection: In a “leechy” world where everything feels transactional, Hachiko represents a love that doesn’t have an expiration date. He is the silent anchor of this list.

So, that’s my ‘historical therapy’ group. Now it’s your turn. History is basically just a giant mirror for our own quirks, so who are you leaning on to survive the ‘leechy’ modern world? Is there a dead poet who validates your forest-hiding introverted tendencies, or a fierce queen who gives you a route map to be a boss? Maybe a dog who’s more loyal than your last three exes?

Drop a name (from any species!) in the comments and tell me: Who is your ‘Historical Mirror’ and why?”