He was born Rajamanickam on 10 March 1933 in Samudram, a village near Jalakandapuram in Salem district of present-day Tamil Nadu.

[4] Rajamanickam's paternal grandfather was employed as a tea plantation labourer in the Hill Country region of British Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and died there.

[3] During his school years, he composed the following poems: Mallikai (1945), Pūkkāri (1945), and Iyaṟkaiyum Tamiḻum (1947; published in the monthly magazine Pakuttaṟivu in 1952).

(conducted by the Tiruchirappalli branch of the All India Radio), in which he spoke in favour of the Pen (literally 'writing skill').

He also attended in public meetings held by C. N. Annadurai's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which split from the DK.

[5] Having a strong admiration for the songs of Bharathidasan, he took Mallikai and Pūkkāri with him as he went to meet the poet at Pondicherry (now Puducherry) in 1949.

Although refusing initially to see those poems (due to a 'fault' in one of those works) Bharathidasan later printed Pookari his own press (renaming it as Koyyaakkani.

[3] After college, Perunchithiranar worked as a junior supervisor and accountant in the co-operative department of Salem district during 1952-54.

Later, he worked for some time as a clerk in the forest department at Anchetty, a village near Hosur in present-day Krishnagiri district.

"Southern Language") as per the wish of Pavanar (who had by that time joined the Department of Lexicography at Annamalai University, Chidambaram).

He also published a poem and an editorial in the magazine against M. Bhaktavatsalam the then Chief Minister of Madras State (now Tamil Nadu).

200 as fine, he was sentenced to four months of rigorous imprisonment and was confined in Vellore Central Prison from 17 November 1965 to 16 January 1966.

After the Indian Emergency came into effect in June 1975, Perunchithiranar was imprisoned on 5 February 1976 under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).

On 26 January 1993, he was arrested and jailed for seven months under the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), due to alleged controversial remarks in his poem regarding the 1991 Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

On 25 April 1951, Perunchithiranar had married Kamalam (later "Thamarai"), daughter of Chellammal and Chinnasamy from Salem.