Rao moved to the University of Montpellier in France. He studied French language and literature, and later at the Sorbonne in Paris, he explored the Indian influence on Irish literature. He married Camille Mouly, who taught French at Montpellier, in 1931. The marriage lasted until 1939. Later he depicted the breakdown of their marriage in "The Serpent and the Rope". Rao published his first stories in French and English. During 1931–32 he contributed four articles written in Kannada for "Jaya Karnataka", an influential journal.