Dr. Selvaganapathy, well known across the globe as a senior Saivite Tamil literature was born on the 8th of September 1940 at Kattur, near Thiruvarur as the second son of Shri.Rajagopala Pillai and Smt.ParvathyAachi.

Having acquired the title of Vidwan from the Dharmapuram Aadhinam College during 1961-65, he was awarded a cash prize of onethousand rupees, as the George V Memorial prize instituted by the Kasi Mutt for his securing the firstrank in the Tamil Vidwan examination of the Madras University in 1965.