 He was born in Nandhanur to Nagarathinam iyer who was a Sivagangai Samasthana Sangeetha Vidwan.His ancestors lived initially
in Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu) and later in Raja Hiranya Garba Thirumalai Sethupathi's village in Perungarai(Ramanathapuram).Koteeswara Iyer studied music under Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar (1860–1919) and Patnam Subramania Iyer (1845–1902).