He was a disciple of Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer in music and Madurai Narayana Bhagavatar and Smt Saraswathy Bai in Harikatha.
[2] Sambasiva Bhagavatar was born in Mannargudi in the old Tanjavur district in Tamil Nadu, India in the year 1912 to Rajam Iyer and Meenakshi Ammal.
He spent his early years in Mannargudi and later moved to Madras (now Chennai).He studied in Sri Ramakrishna Mission in Mylapore.
[2] A few of his Sahityams or compositions[5] are listed below Bhagavatar dedicated a major portion of his life to the growth and development of Sri Thiagaraja Sangeetha Vidwath Samajam in Mylapore, Chennai.
As per the advice of Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamigal, he installed a Panchaloga Vigraham of Saint Thiagaraja at the Vidhwath Samajam Premises.