As a minister of considerable influence to the Eastern Ganga rulers and later as the pontiff of the Madhvacharya matha, Narahari converted the Simhachalam temple into an educational establishment of renown and a religious centre for Vaishnavism.
[8] Nothing is known about his early life except that he served as a minister in the Eastern Ganga Kingdom in Kalinga (modern day Odisha) and later as a regent in the stead of Narasimha Deva II before his ordination as a monk.
Information about his life is derived from a hagiography called Narahariyatistotra, Narayana Pandita's Madhva Vijaya and inscriptions from the Srikurmam and Simhachalam temples, all of which attest to his regency.
Narahari's treatise on the Gita Bhashya of Madhva called Bhavaprakashika is considered to be an important work in the Dvaita canon, being referenced by Jayatirtha and Raghavendra Tirtha.
[1] Narahari and Sripadaraja are considered to be the forerunners of the Haridasa movement by penning songs and hymns, mostly containing the teachings of Madhva in simplified terms and set to music in the vernacular Kannada language.