 He studied music under Patnam Subramania Iyer (1845 - 1902), a singer of Carnatic music and came in the sishya parampara of Saint Thyagaraja.He had a large number of disciples, of whom the most popular was Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.He composed over 100 songs and used the "mudra" "Srinivasa" in his compositions.