R Muthukannammal (born 1937) is a seventh generation veteran Sadir dancer from the Indian State of Tamil Nadu.
[1] In the year 2022, Govt of India honoured Muthukannammal by conferring the Padma Shri award for her contributions in the field of art.
[3] Muthukannammal was born in 1937 in Viralimalai, 28 km from Trichy into a hereditary Isai Vellalar family of dancers and musicians.
King Rajagopala Tondaiman, the ninth and last ruler of the princely state of Pudukkottai, had gifted agricultural lands to her family for their temple services.
However, due to the strong ant-Devadasi movement then raging in Tamil Nadu, especially in Viralimalai, there was a steep decline in interest among the general public and temple administrators in the ritualistic traditional performances of dance and music by Muthukannammal and members of her family.