Bhaktavatsalam was born to C. N. Kanakasabhapathi Mudaliar and his wife Mallika[1] in a Saiva Vellalar family of Nazarethpet or Nazareth village, Madras Presidency.

Bhaktavatsalam resigned along with the other office-holders of the Indian National Congress on declaration of war by the United Kingdom.

He was appointed the Home Minister in the Kamaraj' cabinet and leader of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly House.

In 1962, the Indian National Congress won the assembly elections and formed the government in the state for the fifth time in 25 years.

[6] The main function of the committee was to construct a rock memorial at Kanyakumari in order to honour Swami Vivekananda on his birth centenary.

[6] However, Bhaktavatsalam yielded when Ranade presented him a letter with signatures of 323 members of Parliament in support of a memorial.

[6][7] Bhaktavatsalam's tenure as Chief Minister witnessed severe anti-Hindi agitations in Madras state.

[9] On 7 March 1964, at a session of the Madras Legislative Assembly, Bhaktavatsalam recommended the introduction of a three-language formula comprising English, Hindi and Tamil.

[10][11] As 26 January 1965, the day when the 15-year-long transition period recommended by the Indian Parliament came to an end, neared, the agitations intensified leading to police action and casualties.

[9] On 13 February 1965, Bhaktavatsalam claimed that the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Left parties were responsible for the large scale destruction of public property and violence during the anti-Hindi agitations of 1965.

[15] Bhaktavatsalam's daughter Sarojini Varadappan is a social activist while his granddaughter Jayanthi Natarajan was a politician of the Indian National Congress, Rajya Sabha member and former Union minister.