His father was Subramaniam Kathiravelu, an employee of Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and his mother was Maheswary, a teacher at Jaffna Central College.
As a teenager, Devananda was influenced by the political work of his father, a member of the Sri Lanka Communist Party and his uncle, a leading trade unionist.
Feeling discriminated by certain government policies, he wanted to be engaged in the emerging Tamil liberation movement.
Following his victory in the 1977 election, President J.R. Jayawardene appointed Nythiananda as the chairman of the newly formed Palmyrah Development Board and Devananda functioned as his personal assistant.
[6] In 1980 EROS split into two as K. Pathmanabha (Padmanaba) and Varatharajah Perumal broke away and formed the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).
On returning to Jaffna Devananda was put in charge of all of the EPRLF's military activities in Sri Lanka.
On 5 May 1985 the PLA led by Devananda attacked the Sri Lankan Navy base at Karainagar.
In late 1986, whilst Devananda was in India, the Tamil Tigers attacked the EPRLF, inflicting a heavy losses and killing Gaffoor.
Devananda was blamed for the debacle because he had sent EPRLF cadres from Vanni and Eastern Province home before going to India.
The EPDP lacked funds and Devananda resorted to kidnapping and extortion of Sri Lankan Tamils living in Madras.
In 1990 police in Kodambakkam, Madras, started an investigation on Devananda on charges of rioting and criminal intimidation of a person called Valavan.
A meeting was arranged by Sri Lankan intelligence between Devananda and Deputy Defence Minister Ranjan Wijeratne.
[6] Devananda offered to place the EPDP under Sri Lankan government control in return for support and protection from the Tamil Tigers.
[6] The EPDP used the islands as a base to transport goods, particularly dried fish, between India and Sri Lanka.
[6] On 1 January 1993, Tharmalingam Selvakumar, a former EPDP sympathiser, was abducted from the Premil Sports Club at Kotahena, Colombo.
[15][16][17] The paramilitary wing has been accused of helping the Sri Lankan Navy commit massacres in places like Allaipiddy [18] Devananda and the EPDP entered politics in 1994 when it contested the 1994 parliamentary election as an independent group in Jaffna District.
He lost his ministerial post following the change of government in December 2001 but was reappointed Minister of Agriculture, Marketing Development, Hindu Education Affairs, Tamil Language & Vocational Training Centres in North when the United People's Freedom Alliance, the successor to the PA, returned to power in April 2004.
The Tamil Tigers undertook over 10 attempts on his life: Devananda is wanted in India on connection with the Choolaimedu murder, kidnapping and other charges.