She studied at Keyes High School and had begun a course in medicine in Madras when she heard B. R. Ambedkar deliver a speech at Jeera Compound.
[citation needed] She became the first and only woman minister in the cabinet of Neelam Sanjiva Reddy.
[citation needed] As a Minister of Religious and Charitable Endowments – a position she held for a year – she took the decision to train Dalits as Hindu priests.
She set up an Archaka School at Yadagirigutta and allowed women into Devasthanam trusts.
[citation needed] Sadalakshmi was married to T. Venkata Narayana, a prominent Scheduled Caste leader.