Born in Arthamur, Andhra Pradesh, India, Professor M. Narasimhachary earned his Ph.D. in Sanskrit from the University of Madras, under the guidance of Dr V. Raghavan. His PhD thesis was entitled Contribution of Sri Yamunacharya to Visishtadvaita. He was Assistant Professor of Sanskrit and Research Director at Vivekananda College, Madras, then Reader in Sanskrit at the University of Madras, Chennai, and then he founded and chaired the Department of Vaishnavism at the University of Madras. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, and at Mercyhurst College, Erie, Pennsylvania, and a Visiting Academic at the Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford University, UK, as well as a Visiting Fellow at the School of Indological Studies at Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Moka, Mauritius.

His publications include Sri Venkatesvara Satakamu (Telugu), Chennai, 1970; Jadabharatudu (Telugu), Chennai, 2000; Contribution of Sri Yamunacharya to Visishtadvaita, Chennai, 1971; Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa, Canto XII with English translation and Notes (co-author, Dr S. Ramaratnam), Chennai 1970, 1972, 1982, 1995; Handbook of Hindu Gods, Goddesses and Saints (Co-author Prof. H. Daniel Smith, Syracuse University). Sandeep Prakashan, New Delhi. 1991, 1997; English translation of the Stotras of Sri Vedanta Desika, Chennai, 2002; Monograph on Sri Ramanuja (Sahitya Akademi), New Delhi, 2004; Monograph on Sri Vedanta Desika (Sahitya Akademi), New Delhi, 2004; Spiritual Heritage of Sri Annamacharya, Vols. I and II (co-author, Dr M.S. Ramesh, IAS.) Published by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, 2001, 2008; English translation of the Tamil commentary of Periyavaccan Pillai on the Tiruppallandu of Periyazhvar (co-author: Velukkudi Krishnan), Chennai, 2009. He is currently working on an English translation of the commentary Bhushana of Govindaraja on Valmiki Ramayana, and an English translation of Slesha Yamaka Cakravarti Venkatadhvarin’s Laksmi Sahasram. He is a poet, currently composing an original Mahakavya in Sanskrit entitled Abhinava Bharata.

Prof. Narasimhachary wrote the foreword to the upcoming World Wisdom title, The Power of the Sacred Name.