A Tillana or thillana is a rhythmic piece in South Indian carnatic music that is generally performed at the end of a concert and widely used in classical Indian dance performances. It was popularised by M Balamuralikrishna, Lalgudi Jayaraman and some other musicians A Tillana uses tala-like phrases in the pallavi and anupallavi, and lyrics in the charanam.
The thillana is based on the tarana which was introduced by Amir Khusrau (1253-1325 CE).
Popular compositions
By Lalgudi Jayaraman
- Behag Thillana
- Kadanakuthuhalam Thillana
- Mohanakalyani Thillana
- Khamas Thillana
- Mand Thillana
- Revathi Thillana
- Dwijavanthi Thillana
By M. Balamuralikrishna
- Brindavani Thillana
- Kathanakuthuhalam Thillana
- Kuntalavarali Thillana
- Garudadhwani Thillana
- Thaya Ragamalika Thillana (Kalyani Raga)
By other composers:
- Kalinga Narthana Thillana(Ragam: Gambhira Natta), Surutti Thillana, Sindhu Bhairavi Thillana and Puraneermai Pann Thilanna composed by Sri Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi
- Dhanashree Thillana composed by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal and tuned by Lalgudi Jayaraman and Bhupalam Thillana composed by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal
- Khamas Thillana composed by Patnam Subramania Iyer
- Kaapi Thillana, composed by Ganesh and Kumaresh Rajagopalan
- Basant Bahar Thillana, composed by Maharajapuram Santhanam
- Behag Thillana, composed by Veene Sheshanna
- Behag Thillana, composed by Abhishek Raghuram
- Dwijavanthi Thillana by Bharat Sundar