Thirukkural for iPhone brings to you in digital form the beautiful couplets written by Thiruvalluvar in its original Tamil form and it's English translation. Browse through and enjoy this timeless classic whose contents remain true to this time. Swipe your fingers on the Tamil Thirukkural left or right to change to the next one. Chapters can be selected by pressing the blue button. There are 133 chapters with 10 kurals each, totaling to 1330 couplets.

Thirukkural is a Tamil book about life and philosophy. It is arguably the most widely acclaimed and esteemed Tamil classic of all times. It is dated anywhere from the second century BC to the eighth century AD. It was written by Thiruvalluvar, a sage and a philosopher. The Thirukkural is a code of ethics. It has codes of life and ethics for the common men, noble men, administrators, kings and ascetics. It is universal in its reach and perspective. The information in these verses are as applicable today as it was 2000 years back. It deals with the power of virtue, extols self control, urges man to perform sacrifice and charity, elucidates the qualities that go to make perfection in all people - the married and the ascetic.

The Thirukkural is made up of 133 chapters each made up of 10 couplets. It has three sections. The first section is called "arattupaal" (Virtue). It lists the way to live a morally upright life. It has 38 chapters. The second section is called "porutpaal" (Wealth). It list the ways of conduct of those involved in administration and socio-political life; about social relations and citizenship. The third section is called "inbatupaal"(Love). It deals with true love, physical longing and ethics in love.

One of the greatness of Thirukkural is it's achievement of a perfect balance between the secular and the spiritual.

Translation credits

Rev Dr G U Pope, Rev W H Drew, Rev John Lazarus and Mr F W Ellis