Thirukkural () is a classic of couplets or Kurals (1330 rhyming Tamil couplets) or aphorisms celebrated by Tamils. It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, and is considered to be the first work to focus on ethics, in Shramana literature of India. However it begins with salutation to Adi Bhagwan. Thirukkural expounds various aspects of life and is one of the most important works in Tamil. This is reflected in some of the other names by which the text is known: tamilmarai (Tamil Veda); poyyamozhi (speech that does not become false); and teyva nul or dheiva nool (divine text). It is dated anywhere from the second century BC to the eighth century AD. The book is considered to be a posterior to Arthashastra by some historians and to precede Manimekalai and Silapathikaram since both the latter acknowledge the Kural text. Thirukkural is and remains to be the book that has been translated into the most number of languages and hence it is called as "Ulaga Podhu Marai" meaning the Common Knowledge for the world.Copies of Tirukkural are available even at places as far as New York.Copies of Tirukkural published as early as 1930 can be found in New York Public Library.

Thirukkural (or the Kural) is a collection of 1330 Tamil couplets organised into 133 chapters. Each chapter has a specific subject ranging from "ploughing a piece of land" to "ruling a country". According to the LIFCO Tamil-Tamil-English dictionary, the Tamil word Kural means Venpa verse with two lines. Thirukkural comes under one of the four categories of Venpas (Tamil verses) called Kural Venpa. The 1330 couplets are divided into 3 sections and 133 chapters. Each chapter contains 10 couplets. A couplet consists of seven 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 Kural, i.e. Thiru + Kural = Thirukkural. It is has been translated to various other languages.

There are claims and counter claims as to the authorship of the book and to the exact number of couplets written by Thiruvalluvar. The first instance of the author's name mentioned as Thiruvalluvar is found to be several centuries later in a song of praise called Garland of Thiruvalluvar in Thiruvalluva Malai.

Sections

The first kural starts with the first letter of Tamil alphabet("A") :
"அகர முதல வெழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதி
பகவன் முதற்றே யுலகு...."

The last kural finished by last letter of Tamil alphabet ("N"):

" ஊடுதல் காமத்திற்கின்பம் அதற்கின்பம்
கூடி முயங்கப் பெறின்"

Translations

The Latin translation of Thirukkural made by Constanzo Beschi in 1730 did much to make known to European intellectuals the richness and beauty of Oriental Tamil literature. Being a collection of poem, the translation to prose or the Urai (explanation) of Tirukural have been given by eminent personalities like M.K.Karunanidhi, the current Chief minister of Tamilnadu. The earliest possible Urai of the Tirukkural was given by Parimelazhagar. His Urai give us an idea of the amount of information contained in each and every kural. A lot of software are available these days for installing Kurals in desktops. The software based Kural (poem) changes each day and you get the kural and its explanation in both English and Tamil.
An English Translation of Tirukural by GU Pope brought the Tirukkural to the western world in 1886. This work is widely reverred and accepted in many parts of the world.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6717003/0170Tirukkural-English-Translation-and-Commentary

The following is a list of translations/commentaries of the tamil literary classic THIRUKURAL - taken out from the Encyclopaedia of Tamil Literature, vol. 1, Inst. of Asian Studies, Thiruvanmayur, Tamilnadu, India.

Bengali

• Nalini Mohan, Sanyal, thirukural, Calcutta, 1939

• Sastri, E.C., thirukural, Calcutta, 1974

• Krishnamoorthy, S. Calcutta, 2001

Burmese

• Myo Thant, U, thirukkural, Rangoon

Chinese

• Chi Eng Hsi, thirukkural, Hongkong, 1967

Czech

• Zvelebil, Kamil V, Thirukural (selections), Prague, 1952-1954

Dutch

• Kat, D, Thirukural (selections), Netherlands, 1964

English

• Aiyar, V.V.S, Kural_: Maxims of thiruvalluvar, 4th ed, Madras, 1961

• Balasubramanian, K.M, Thirukural of thiruvalluvar, Madras, 1962

• Chakravarthi, A, thirukural in english with commentary, Madras, 1953

• Drew, H.W., The kural of thiruvalluvar with commentary of Parimelazhakar, Madras, 1840

• Drew, H.W. and Lazarus, J., Thirukural (in verses), Reprint, Madras, 1956

• Ellis, F.W., thirukural on virtue (in verse) with commentary, 1812, reprint Madras 1955

• Gajapathy Nayagar, A, The rosary of gems of thirukkural, Madras, 1969

• Kasturi Srinivasan, Thirukural: an ancient tamil classic (in couplets), Bombay, 1969

• Mathavaiyah, A, Kural in English with commentary in Tamil, Madras, 1925

• Michael, S.M., The sacred aphorisms of thiruvalluvar (in verse), Nagarcoil, 1928

• Muthuswamy, P, Thirukural in english, Madurai, 1965

• Parameswaran Aiyar, T.V., 108 gems from the sacred Kural, Kottayam, 1928

• Parameswaran Pillai, V.K., kural, Madras

• Pope, G.U, A collection of the english translation of thirukural, Madras, 1959

• Popely, H.A., The sacred Kural (selections in verses), Calcutta, 1951

• Raja, P, thirukural (in verses), Kumbakonam, 1950

• Rajagopalachari, C, kural, the great book of thiruvalluvar, Madras, 1937, 3rd ed, 1973

• Ramachandra Dikshithar, V.R., thirukural in english with roman translation, Madras, 1949

• Ranganatha Muthaliar, A: thirukural moolamum uraiyum with english translation, Madras, 1933

• Thangaswami, T.D, thirukural (selections in verse), Madras, 1954

• Thirunavukarasu, Mrs, T., Kural a selection of 366 verses (a gem for each day), Poona, 1916

• Vadivel chettiar, K, kural in english with tamil text and parimelazhakar commentary,(3parts), Madurai, 1972-1980

• Vanmikinathan, G, the thirukural - a unique guide to moral, material and spiritual prosperity, trichy, 1969

• Yogi Suddanantha Bharathi: Thirukural with english couplets, Madrs, 1968

• Yogi Suddanantha Bharathi, thirukural couplets with clear prose rendering, Madras, 1970

Fijian

• Berwick, S.L, Na. Thirukkurala, Fiji, 1964

Finnish

• Aalto, Pentit, Kural - the ancient tamil classic, Finland, 1972

French

• Ariel, M, kural de thiruvalluvar (traduits du tamoul), Paris, 1848

• Barrigue de, Fontaineu, G, le livre de l'amour de thiruvalluva, Paris, 1889

• Danielou, Alain, thiruvallouvar kural, Pondicherry, 1942

• Jacolliot, Louis, kural de thiruvalluvar, selections, Paris, 1767

• Lamairesse, M, thirukural in french, Pondicherry, 1867

German

• Albrecht, Fenz and K. Lalithambal: thirukural von thiruvalluvar aus dem Tamil, Madurai, 1977

• Cammera, A.F, thirukural waith german translation, Leipzig, 1803

• Graul, Karl, der kural des thiruvalluvar, London, 1854

• Graul, Karl, der tamu lische gnomes dichtar thiruvalluvar, Leipzig, 1865

• Rickert, Friederich, thirukural, selections, Berlin, 1847

• William and Norgate, Der kural des thiruvalluvar, 2nd ed, London, 1866

Gujarati

• Kalani, Kandilal, L, thirukural in Gujarathi, Bombay, 1971

Hindi

• Sankar Raju Naidu, S, thirukural in Hindi, Madras, 1958

• Seshadri, K, thirukural in Hindi, Lucknow, 1982

• Govindaraj Jain, Kural in verse, first two parts, New delhi, 1942

• Jain, B.D, thirukural, thirupananthal, 1961

• Khenand Rakar, thirukural, parts 1 and 2, Ajmer, 1924

• Rajan Pillai, thirukural, Lucknow, 1976

• Venkatakrishnan, M.G, thirukural, Trichy, 1964

Kannada

• Gundappa, L, thirukural (3 parts), Madras, 1960

• Gundappa, L, thirukural dharma bhaga, Bangalore, 1955

• Srinivas, P.S, thirukural with original couplets and translations in Kannada, Madurai, 1982

• Srikanthaiah, B.M, Kural (selections in verses), bangalore, 1940

Latin

• Graul, Charles, Kural of thiruvalluvar, Tranquebar, 1866

• Veeramamunivar, thirukural (Books I and II), London, 1930

Malay

• Dr.G.Soosai Ph.D,J.P.,P.P.N,P.K.T.,Thirukkural Kitab Murni TamilNadu.,Kuala Lumpur,1978 & 1991

• Ismail, Hussein: thirukural sastera kalasik tamil yang, Kuala Lumpur, 1967

• Ramily Bin Thakir thirukural (in verses), Kuala Lumpur, 1964

Malayalam

• Azhakathu Kurup, thirukural in verses, Trivandrum, 1875

• Balakrishna Nair, G, Kural waith commentary, Part I, Trivandrum, 1963

• Chellan Nadar, K, thirukural tharmanaskantam, Parassala, 1962

• Damodaran Pillai,P, thirukural manikal, Trivandrum, 1951

• Gopalakurup, Vennikulam, thirukural (first 2 parts in verse), Kottayam, 1960

• Govinda Pillai, A, thirukural, Trivandrum

Oriya

• Kishrod, Dash Ch, thirukuralu-in oriya language, Sampalbur, 1985

Punjabi

• Ram Murti Sharma, thirukural dhamma granth of the tamils, Chandigarh, 1983

Polish

• Umadevi, Wandy Dynowskiev, thiruvalluvar kural, Madras, 1958

Rajasthani

• Kamala Gurg, thirukural needhi sastra, Jaipur, 1982

Russian

• Glazov, J.J and Krishnamurthi, A, thirukural, a book on virtu, politics and love, Moscow, 1963

• Glazov, J.J, thirukural in couplets with illustrations, Moscow, 1974

Sanskrit

• Srirama Desikan, S.N, thirukural in sanskrit slokas, Madras, 1961, 1968

Saurashtra

• Ram, S.S, Saurastra thirukural payiram - pitika pragaranam, Madurai, 1980

Sinhala

• De Silva, Charles, Sirigiya (thirukural in sinhalese), Colombo, 1964

• Sissigamy Govokgada, M, thirukural, Colombo, 1961

Swedish

• Frykholm Ingya, thirukural, Uddavalla, 1971

Telugu

• Jagannatha Sastri, Mudiganthi, thiruvalluva sookthalu, West Godavari, 1952

• Lakshminarayana Sastri, Kural, chittoor, 1906

Urdu

• Kohan, Muhamad Yusuf, Kural in Urdu and Arabic, Madras, 1976

• Surawathi Hasarat, Kural in Urdu, New Delhi, 1966