Perunchiththiranar was born on March 10, 1933 in Salem City, Tamil Nadu to Mr. R. Duraiswamy and Mrs. Kunjammal Duraiswamy. His given name was Manickam. His father was a police constable. He wrote Tamil poems from his school days. He was an excellent poet, later earning even the appreciation and applause of Bharathidasan. He wrote poems to his last days, even from his sick bed about the very last illness that took him away from his beloved Tamil people.