Chandrasekhar was born on 19 October 1910 in Lahore, Punjab, British India in a Tamil family, to Sitalakshmi (1891-1931) and Chandrasekhara Subrahmanya (1885-1960)[REF] who was posted in Lahore as Deputy Auditor General of the Northwestern Railways at the time of Chandrasekhar's birth.
Chandrasekhar was tutored at home initially through middle school and later attended the Hindu High School, Triplicane, Madras during the years 1922-25.