Sengalipuram Muthannaval was a famous teacher in the area and had a lot of young students in his Gurukul.
Muthannaval was a Guru with a great deal of patience who knew that little steps in learning go a long way.
He understood students and knew what motivates them and how to scaffold activities to ensure that maximum learning occurred.
Muthannaval taught prose, poetry, grammar, kavyam, natakam, alankaram and Veda shastra and Vedanta.
A generalized standard method of recitation and pronunciation of Vedic texts was derived from the ancient times.
Vedic prayers were generally recited in the same way over generations, from teacher to students following certain basic rules of pronunciations and grammar.
Sastri's first lesson with his Guru Muthanna described in the article was from a chapter in Raghuvamsa, the great work of the poet Kalidasa, where the King Raghu performs the Vishwajit sacrifice and donates all that he has to a poor student Kaustha for paying fees to his Guru.
Muthanna was happy that Sastri started the class that day and said "Like the king Raghu in the lesson, who was able to conquer Kubera, the Lord of wealth, and shower upon the poor student the amount of riches he could have never imagined, you will also amass a lot of wealth and knowledge and help many needy people".
It was with this Guru's blessings and encouragement that Krishna Sastri became the greatest exponent of the Ramayana of his time.
Krishna Sastri dedicated his Nandhi Mangala Slokas to his Guru Muthannaval.
He was a Śrauti scholar and also was a great exponent of the art of upanyasas (discourses) on various subjects in Hinduism.
In the month of Thai, on Dhuvadasi day at 15 hours, as predicted by him he died at the age of 63.