The Calamur Viravalli family, inclusive of closely intermarried "merged" lines was one of the two preeminent Brahmin dynasties in the Madras Presidency who dominated the Mylapore clique, alongside the Vembaukum family. They were originally Vadama Iyers from Kalambur and nearby hamlets in North Arcot, who traced their ancestry to Appayya Dikshita, and before that, Deshastha movements from the North. They were traditionally by hereditary profession renowned Sanskritists, as with Anantharama, father of patriarch C. V. Runganada Sastri, Anantharama's father, and Anantharama's father's father, but rapidly adapted to the practice and administration of law and English-style governance, with many Calamurs coming to rank among India's most celebrated lawyers, jurists, administrators, and statesmen.