Born on January 14th, 1924 in Togamarai, Tiruchi District to Venkatesha Iyer and Kuppalu Ammal, he learned music from his maternal grandfather Krishna Iyer as well as from Sattur Krishna Iyengar and Tiger Varadacharya. His students include T.V. Sankaranarayanan, Chitravina N Ravikiran, and Neyveli Santhanagopalan, in addition to numerous students of the Sangeetha Vidyalaya of the Shanmukhananda Sabha in Mumbai. He was a highly respected vaggeyakkara, who was also a concert artiste and a much loved teacher. He earned a certificate of merit from the Madras Music Academy, Kalaimaamani from the government of Tamil Nadu, Sangeeta Ratnakara from the Cleveland Tyagaraja Aradhana, and Sangeeta Kala Acharya from the Music Academy