Tirukural

Tirukkural
திருக்குறள்

A typical published Tamil original version of the book
Author	Thiruvalluvar
Original title	Muppaal
Working title	Thirukkural
Country	India
Language	Old Tamil
Series	Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku
Subject	Secular ethics
Genre	Poetry
Published	Palm-leaf manuscript of the Tamil Sangam era (possibly between 4th and 2nd centuries BCE)
Publication date	1812 (first known printed edition)
Published in English	1840

The Tirukkural or Thirukkural (Tamil Name: திருக்குறள், literally Sacred Verses), or shortly the Kural, is a classic Tamil sangam literature consisting of 1330 couplets or kurals, dealing with the everyday virtues of an individual. Considered one of the greatest works ever written on ethics and morality, chiefly secular ethics, it is known for its universality and non-denominational nature. It was authored by Valluvar, also known in full as Thiruvalluvar.

Considered as chef d'oeuvre of both Indian and world literature, the Tirukkural is one of the most important works in the Tamil language. This is reflected in some of the other names by which the text is given by, such as Tamiḻ maṟai (Tamil veda), Poyyāmoḻi (words that never fail), and Deyva (Deiva) nūl (divine text). Translated into at least 40 languages (as of 2014), Tirukkural is one of the most widely translated non-religious works in the world. The work is dated to sometime between the third and first centuries BCE and is considered to precede Silappatikaram (1st century CE) and Manimekalai (between 1st and 5th centuries CE), since they both acknowledge the Kural text. Because the life, culture and ethics of the Tamils are considered to be solely defined in terms of the values set by the Tirukkural, the government and the people of Tamil Nadu alike uphold the text with utmost reverence.

The Tirukkural is structured into 133 chapters, each containing 10 couplets (or kurals), for a total of 1,330 couplets. The 133 chapters are grouped into three sections, or "books":

Each kural or couplet contains exactly seven words, known as cirs, with four cirs on the first line and three on the second. A cir is a single or a combination of more than one Tamil word. For example, Thirukkural is a cir formed by combining the two words thiru and kuṛaḷ. The book on virtue (aram) contains 380 verses, that of wealth (porul) has 700 and that of love (inbam) has 250.