Rāga, tāla, and pada are the three foundational elements of Indian Classical Music. A rāga comprises a group of svara-s which have a specific and well-defined relation with each other, and clear-cut patterns of movement. The intra-relationship between these svara-s in a phrase gives each rāga its unique flavor. A svara in a rāga which is prominent and is used frequently is known as vādi. There are said to be three ways in which svara-s are related to each other with reference to the vādi - samvādi, anuvādi and vivādi. Svara-s that have a discordant relation to the vādi are called vivādi. The presence of vivādi relationship between svara-s in a rāga is considered to be a ‘defect’ and ‘dōṣa’. This ‘vivāditva’ is seen in forty out of the seventy-two mēla-s and in this mēla-s, forty-four compositions of Muttusvāmi Dīkṣita are found in Saṅgīta Sampradāya Pradarśini, the earliest authentic source of his compositions. While rendering these mēla-s, Subbarāma Dīkṣita, the author of Saṅgīta Sampradāya Pradarśini says that it is tradition to observe ‘vādi vivādi lakṣaṇa-s’ in order to offset the ‘dōṣa’ of vivāditva. An analysis of the handling of vivādi rāga-s by Muttusvāmi Dīkṣita is taken up in this paper.