Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer, as Sivan came to be known, was born in the village of Viyacheri in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, on 23 May 1844.
Vaidyanatha Iyer continued his training with some of the well known musicians of his time including Anai Ayya brothers.
Some of his famous compositions are Pahi Mam Srirajarajeswari (Janaranjani) and Neekela dayaradu (Sarasangi).
The competitive element of some of the Carnatic concerts, setting off two noted musicians against each other in an adversarial rather than collaborative spirit, created needless rivalries between Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer and his contemporaries.
One of them, Patnam Subramania Iyer, was his next door neighbour in tiruvaiyAru, and both organized guru-kula-vaasa at their homes for their students.