Madhava Warrier painted life-like oil paintings in the style of Raja Ravi Varma. Mangala Bayi Thampuratti, Mukundan Tampi, Rama Varma, Neelakantan Pillai and his uncle, Sekhara Warrier, were his contemporaries. He was a renowned scholar, musician, and composer associated with the Kilimanoor royal family.
He hailed from a family of Warriers in Kilimanoor, engaged in the service to the temple. Little is known about them, except that their family had close ties to the family of Raja Ravi Varma.