N Narnappa Suvarna was born to a Billawa family in 1891 at Nireshwalya of Old Bunder, Mangalore. His father was a teacher. Suvarna completed his primary education at Rosario School and graduation from St.Aloysius College. He completed his law degree(B.L) from Madras Law College in 1915. He started his law practice from Madras, Later he shifted to Mangalore and became popular as a criminal lawyer. Suvarna started his political journey as City Municipality member from 1927, later he became vice president of the Municipality. He became the director of South Canara co-operative bank. In 1928, he became the president of Gokarnanatha Co-operative Sangha. In 1931, for his renowned public service British govt conferred him with the title of ‘Rao Bahadur’.
When govt tried to prohibit toddy tapping in 1947, Suvarna along with B.R Karkera fought in favour of toddy tappers thereby govt agreed to allow toddy tapping for jaggery production.
Suvarna, along with Koragappa worked towards the development of Kudroli Gokarnanatha Temple. He became the secretary of Billawa Union in 1920, and president in 1951. In 1952, in the first general election of independent India, he fought election at Mulki constituency of South Canara with Congress ticket and won. He passed away aged 78.