Thirukkural - Tamil Marai 2.4.14

The Kural consists of 133 chapters, each comprised of 10 couplets, resulting in a total of 1,330 couplets. These chapters are categorized into three distinct sections, known as “paal”:

• Aratupaal: Focuses on Dharma, addressing virtues independent of external circumstances (Chapters 1-38).
• Porutpaal: Concentrates on Artha, contemplating virtues in relation to one's environment (Chapters 39-108).
• Kaamattupaal: Explores Kama, which pertains to the virtues associated with conjugal human love (Chapters 109-133).

Each couplet, or kural, is meticulously composed of exactly seven words, referred to as cirs, distributed as four on the first line and three on the second. A cir may consist of a single Tamil word or a combination of multiple words.

For instance, the term Thirukkural is a cir, derived from the combination of the words thiru and kuṛaḷ. In terms of content, the section on Aram (virtue) encompasses 380 verses, while the one on Poruḷ (wealth) contains 700 verses, and the segment on Inbam (love) comprises 250 verses.

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