Rao Bahadur Conjeevaram Hayavadana Rao (10 July 1865 â 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. A road near Ashram Citcle (Basavanagudi), Bengaluru "Sri Hayavadana Rao Road" is named in his honour.
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 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.
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.
Rao died on 27 January 1946 in Bangalore.