As with most scholars of pre-modern India, little is known of his life. He was from a Marathi-speaking Brahmin family that had been established in a town on the banks of the river Godavari. He moved to Varanasi, where he studied Veda and Vedanga, Mimamsa, Srauta, Yoga, Saiva texts, Tarka, and Advaita Vedanta from several teachers, before beginning his literary career.His teachers and mentors at Varanasi, which was then a hub of śāstric learning, included his guru referred to him as Lakṣmaṇārya, and Nārāyaṇa Tīrtha