Muthu Thandavar

Who was Muthu Thandavar?

Muthu Thandavar was composer of Carnatic music. He was an early architect of the present day Carnatic kriti format, which consists of the pallavi, anupallavi and charanam. He lived in the town of Sirkazhi in Tamil Nadu. His contributions to Carnatic music have been largely forgotten and not many of his kritis are in vogue today. Muthu Thandavar, along with Arunachala Kavi and Marimutthu Pillai are known as the Tamil Trinity of Carnatic music.

Muthu Thandavar also composed several padams, short songs mainly sung accompanying Bharatanatyam performances. Some of these padams are still popular such as Teruvil Varano in raga Khamas and Ittanai tulambaramo in raga Dhanyasi.