[4] Varier graduated from the University of Calicut in 1972 and was trained in epigraphy at the Office of the Chief Epigraphist to the Government of India, Mysore (1973).

From 1997 to 1999, he served as Senior Fellow in the Cultural Department, Government of India (New Delhi).

He served as the President - Epigraphy, Historical Archaeology and Numismatics in 1998 Indian History Congress.

[3] Varier is one of the few Indian scholars to examine medieval Malayalam manuscripts collected in Bibliotec Nazionale de Roma, Rome and Apostoloca Vaticana, Vatican.

[6] His work Jainamatham Keralathil received the Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award in 2012 in the scholarly literature category.