Hayavadana Rao was born on 10 July 1865 in the town of Hosur in the then Salem district of Madras Presidency in a Kannada-speaking family.

[1][need quotation to verify] After graduating in history, Rao studied law and economics and joined the Government Museum, Madras as a curator.

Rao worked as a curator till his retirement and compiled "The Indian Biographical Dictionary".

Rao was a polyglot and was fluent in English, Latin, French, German, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Sanskrit.

[citation needed] In 1924, Rao was appointed the head of a committee formed to revise the Mysore Gazetteer written by B. L. Rice.