Tirukkural

One of the most important pieces of
early Tamil literature, along with the
slightly later Naladiyar. The Tirukkural
is a collection of brief verses on religious, social, and moral life, organized
according to various themes; it is attributed to the poet Tiruvalluvar and is
believed to have been written late in the
fifth century. The Tirukkural’s underlying assumptions are theistic, and in this
it differs from the Naladiyar, the tone of
which is primarily ethical, with no mention of divinity. Many of these epigrams
have become proverbial expressions in
Tamil and have become the cultural
property of Tamils from all religious
communities. See also Tamil language
and Tamil epics.