Sri ANNA was the eldest of six sons and three daughters born into a poor family in Tiruchengodu, Salem District, Tamilnadu, India. His brothers were Krishnaswami, Ramaswami, Ganapathy, Mahadevan, and Sankaran. His sisters were Eswarambal, Sharadambal, and Lakshmi. His mother Arundhati was a home maker and his father Naganarasimhan was an Elementary school teacher.

 Smt. Visalakshi was married to Sri ANNA at the young age of twelve, when he was 21. She was the daughter of the Superintendent of Police of Madras, and was fairly rich compared to ANNA, yet supported him like a true wife would. Because she was married at such a young age, she continued to live with her parents until she was 16 or 17. She then came to live with ANNA, who was 28 or 29 by that time.

In a few years both of ANNA’s parents had passed away, and all of his siblings came to live with them. Smt. Visalakshi, his wife, treated them as if they were her own children, with no complaints whatsoever. Around this time three beautiful daughters came into their life. The eldest daughter was named Rajalakshmi, second daughter Seethalakshmi and the youngest daughter was named Krishnaveni. He had 5 beautiful grand daughters and grand sons who are all successful and well settled in life due to his blessings and guidance.