The name Thiruvalluvar (ThiruValluvar) consists of Thiru (a Tamil word meaning honorable, similar to Mr) and Valluvar (a polite name for Valluvan, according to Tamil tradition). The name Valluvan is a common name representing his caste/occupation rather than his proper name. However, the question of whether the author of Thirukkural (Valluvan) is named after his community or vice versa remains unanswered.

There are a few legends about the birth of Thiruvalluvar. The Saiva, Vaishnava, Jaina, Buddhist denominations contend that Thiruvalluvar belongs to their school. There are a few legends about the birth of Thiruvalluvar who could be a Jain samanar Saint or a Hindu. But no evidence is/was available about his religion [Kamatchi Srinivasan "Kural Kuram Samayam", Thirukkural Publications, Madurai Kamaraj University, 1979]. The work does begin with a chapter Saluting the Almightly God. So Thiruvalluvar was a theist. But his God is Almighty, creator of all the worlds, and who delivers those who throw themselves at his feet. The Kural per se does not advocate any specific or sectarian religious faith. One legend associates him to Madurai, the ancient capital of the Pandya rulers who vigorously promoted Tamil literature. According to another he was born and lived in Mylapore, a part of present day Madras city and traveled to Madurai to submit his work, the Thirukural, for approval of the king (Pandian) and his college of poets. His wife is named Vasuki.

There are, also, more traditional stories citing the Tamil Sangam of Madurai (the assembly/conference of eminent scholars and researchers conducted on a regular basis) as the authority through which Thirukkural was introduced to the world. Thiruvalluvar might have spent most part of his life in Madurai because it was under the Pandiya rulers that many Tamil poets flourished. There is also the recent claim by Kanyakumari Historical and Cultural Research Centre (KHCRC) that Valluvar was a king who ruled Valluvanadu in the hilly tracts of Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu.

Most of the Researchers and great Tamil Scholars like George Uglow Pope or G.U. Pope who had spent many years in Tamil Nadu and translated many Tamil texts into English, which includes Thirukkural, have recognised Thiruvalluvar as a Paraiyar. Karl Graul (1814—1864) had already by 1855 characterized the Tirukkural as 'a work of Buddhist hue'. In this connection it was then of particular interest that Thiruvalluvar, the author of the Tirukkural was identified as a Paraiyar in Tamil tradition (as, incidentally, were also other famous ancient Tamil writers, e.g., Auvaiyar ; cf. Pope 1886: i—ii, x—xi). Graul might have subsumed the Jains also under the name of the Buddhists (Graul 1865: xi note).

Thirukkural is one of most revered ancient works in the Tamil . Kural is considered as 'World common faith', as it shows the way for human morals and betterment in life. The Kural has been translated into most languages, likely next only to the Bible, Qur'an and Gita ..The Latin translation of Thirukkural made by Constanzo Beschi in 1730 helped significantly to make known to European intellectuals the richness and beauty of Tamil literature.

Thirukkural is a combined word formed by joining the two words Thiru and Kural, i.e. Thiru + Kural = Thirukkural.

Thirukkural is divided into three sections.Section one deals with Aram, good ethical behavior with conscience and honor ("right conduct"),Section two discusses Porul, the right manner of conducting worldly affairs, andSection three dwells on Inbam, love between man and woman.The First section has 38 chapters, Second has 70 chapters and the Third 25 chapters.Each Chapters consists of 10 couplets or kurals thus making 1330 couplets in total.

There is a 133 feet tall statue of Saint Thiruvalluvar erected at the southern tip of Indian subcontinent (Kanyakumari) where the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean converge.The 133 ft denotes Thirukkural's 133 Chapters or athikarams and the show of three fingers denote the three themes Aram, Porul, and Inbam ie the Sections on Morals, Wealth and Love.