Born in Secunderabad, India in 1929,  Narayan is an eminent Indian artist, illustrator, author and story-teller.  

He started painting with no formal training, and his first public showing was in 1949, followed by a solo show in 1954. In the years since, he has had over 50 solo shows and his work is in several collections, including the National Gallery of Modern Art and the National Museum (India) in New Delhi. Initially, he worked on tile and ceramic, and this informed some of his subsequent water-colors. His paintings are intimate and appealing, often with an element of fantasy, with simple outlines and accessible subject matter in two-dimensional stylized representations. He works primarily in ink or pastel and watercolor.

He also illustrates children's books and writes short stories and verse. He has been the subject of a documentary by Mumbai All India Radio, and has received numerous awards, including the Padma shri in 1987 and the Maharashtra Gourav Puraskar in 1990.

He lives and works in mumbai.