Kamraj was born on July 15, 1903, in a family of traders at Virudunagar. His real name was Kamakshi Kumaraswamy Nader but was affectionately shortened to Raja by his mother, Sivakami Ammal. His father, Kumarswamy Nader, was a coconut merchant. Kamaraj was enrolled at the local elementary school, the Nayanar Vidyalaya but was later shifted to the high school Kshatriya Vidyalaya.

Patriot and intellectual, Acharya Kripalani was a Gandhian all his life and a critic of the Establishment. He reveled in satire and spoke and wrote with biting irony and sarcasm. He was known as gadfly.
Born in 1888 in an upper family in Hyderabad, he had his education in Karachi. He made a mark even as a student leader. He was professor of English and History at the Muzzaffarpur College in Bihar for five years from 1912; he also taught for a year at the Banaras Hindu University (1919-20). From 1920-27 he became a member of the Gujarat Vidyapith founded by Mahatma Gandhi.