Sivaraj was born into a Paraiyer family to Namsivayam, an accounts officer, on 29 September 1892 in the town of Cuddapah in the then Madras Presidency.
In 1915 he graduated as a lawyer from the Madras Law College and practised as a junior under Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer.
[2] He worked as a lecturer in the Madras Law College for a period of thirteen years.
He participated in the 1952, 1957 and 1962 Lok Sabha elections and served as the Member of Parliament from Chengalpattu constituency.
[6] When the Republican Party of India was founded in 1957, he was again elected as its first president and continued working to establish the organisation until he died in 1964.