Porul (Kural book)
literary work
The Book of Poruḷ, in full Poruṭpāl (Tamil: பொருட்பால்; lit. 'division of wealth' or 'polity'), also known as the Book of Wealth, Book of Polity, the Second Book or Book Two in translated versions, is the second of the three books or parts of the Kural literature, authored by the ancient Indian philosopher Valluvar. Written in High Tamil distich form, it has 70 chapters each containing 10 kurals or couplets, making a total of 700 couplets all dealing with statecraft. Poruḷ, which means both 'wealth' and 'meaning', correlates with the second of the four ancient Indian values of dharma, artha, kama and moksha. The Book of Poruḷ deals with polity, or virtues of an individual with respect to the surroundings, including the stately qualities of administration, wisdom, prudence, nobility, diplomacy, citizenship, geniality, industry, chastity, sobriety and teetotalism, that is expected of every individual, keeping aṟam or dharma as the base.
Etymology and meanings
Poruḷ is the Tamil word that corresponds to the Sanskrit term 'artha', and pāl refers to 'division'. Similar to its cousins aṟam (dharma), inbam (kama), and veedu (moksha), poruḷ as a concept includes multiple meanings, rendering it almost impossible to capture its meaning in a single word in any non-Indian language. The term artha, however, is common to all Indian languages.
As one of the four mutually non-exclusive aims of human life in Indian philosophy called the Puruṣārtha, poruḷ literally translates as "meaning, sense, goal, purpose or essence" depending on the context. Poruḷ is also a broader concept in the scriptures of Hinduism.
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