Rao Bahadur Conjeevaram Hayavadana Rao (10 July 1865 – 27 January 1946) was an Indian historian, museologist, anthropologist, economist and polyglot. He was a member of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Indian Historical Records Commission and a fellow of the Royal Society of Economics. Early life Hayavadana Rao was born on 10 July 1865 in the town of Hosur in the then Salem district of Madras Presidency in a Kannada-speaking Deshastha Madhwa Brahmin family. After graduating in history, Rao studied law and economics and joined the Government Museum, Madras as a curator. Rao worked as a curator till his retirement and compiled "The Indian Biographical Dictionary". Rao was a polyglot and was fluent in English, Latin, French, German, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Sanskrit. Mysore Kingdom In 1924, Rao was appointed the head of a committee formed to revise the Mysore Gazetteer written by B. L. Rice. The revised version comprising seven volumes was published in 1927. Rao followed this with a three-volume History of Mysore (1399-1799) chronicling the Wodeyar Dynasty. Later life and death Rao died on 27 January 1946 in Bangalore. Works References and sources References Sources 1865 births 1946 deaths People from Salem district 19th-century Indian historians 20th-century Indian historians Indian museologists Scientists from Tamil Nadu Madhva Brahmins