Finest of all Tamil classics and immoral Tamil work, Tirukkural is authored by Tiruvalluvar, or Valluvar the great poet. The birth date of Tiruvalluvar is little bit blurred among scholars. While some say that he lived in the 2nd century B.C. others date him much later, even as late as the 8th century A.D. However, it is accepted by all that the Kural, which preaches a code of ethics, is a book for all places and all times.

Whether Valluvar was a Jain or a Hindu, the caste he belonged to, etc., is a matter of raging controversy. The fact that all sections claim him as their own is proof enough about the greatness of the author and the outstanding book written by him. The word kural means short and is a variation of a metre in Tamil known as venba. Therefore the book is named after that metre and the prefix `tiru` is to indicate its sacred nature. The first chapter of the Kural is an invocation to God, but Valluvar does not mention any particular deity.This work consists of three books in 133 chapters with each chapter having ten verses. This book is divided into many sections - the first is Aratuppal consisting of thirty-eight chapters including the preface with consists of four chapters; the second is Porutpal with seventy chapters and the third is Kamattuppal with twenty-five chapters. The first section is concerned with arani or dharma, the next with polity and administration and the third and last section with love themes.

The Kural is arranged according to the conventional classification of the three goals of life namely virtue, wealth and love. The fourth goal, liberation has not been dealt with separately by the author.