 He was born on September17,1936, in Dharwad, Karnataka.He is the eldest son of Vidyaratna Shri R. S. Panchamukhi, an archaeologist and indologist and Sanskrit Scholar.Vadiraj was born in Bagalkot, Karnataka, to Vidyaratna Shri Raghavendracharya, S. Panchamukhi and Kamalabai R. Panchamukhi.