The following are some of the linguistic methodologies scholars use to date the Kural text: However, scholars find it difficult to ascertain the exact period of the text and its author and have employed, besides archaeological research, various historical references and linguistic methodologies to arrive at a date. The Tirukkural belongs to the Late-Sangam period and has been listed as one of the chief text of the Sangam corpus. This article speaks about various dates arrived at by various scholars over time.
Still the precise date as to when Valluvar completed writing the Kural text remains murky. The Tamil Nadu government has ratified 31 BCE as the year of birth of Valluvar. According to Blackburn, the 'current scholarly consensus' dates the text and the author to approximately 500 CE. The Kural is variously dated between 300 BCE and 5th century CE. The dating of the Tirukkural, and by extension the period of its author Valluvar, has been a subject of intense debate among scholars for centuries, and it continues to remain so.
