He was born in Thiruppathisaram (Thiruvanparisaram) village of Kanyakumari district.
His son, R. Mahadevan, is serving as a judge of the Chennai High Court.
Also, in memory of father Arangam Mahadevan is presenting Aranganathan literary award to Tamil Scholars.
[3] These awards are given to the best writers of Tamil who have been contributing for many years in the field of literature considering their overall literary contribution and activities in two categories such as poetry, short story, novel and essay in one category and drama, translation, research books, poetry, criticism and young writers in another category.
Professor K. Panchangam and writer Suresh Kumar Indrajith have received the Literary Award for the year 2013.