While in his mother's womb, Varma was affected by polio[2] and thus was born with disorder in his right leg, which he had to carry till his death.
He retired as the principal of RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Tripunithura (1981–84).
He has many disciples, including the Carnatic vocalists Neyyatinkara Vasudevan, P R Kumarakerala Varma, K. Omanakutti, Mavelikkara P Subrahmanyam, Ponkunnam Ramachandran, Thamarakkad Govindan Namboothiri, Thamarakkad Krishnan Namboothiri, and Cheppad Vamanan Namboothiri.M.
K. Sankaran Namboothiri, He died on 2 November 2008, at his sister's home at Tripunithura near Ernakulam.
He composed several krithis written by Thulasivanam many of which are popular and are sang by artists across the globe.