Veluppillai Rasanayakam was born on 16 July 1925 in Ceylon, the son of Kailayar Rasanayakam, a farmer, and his wife Annappillai, née Palani. He was educated at schools in Jaffna and Colombo before entering the medical faculty of the University of Ceylon in 1945, from which he graduated MB BS in 1950. After graduation he had early resident appointments at the General Hospital, Colombo, before coming to Britain for postgraduate studies in general surgery and orthopaedics at Liverpool, where he was influenced by Charles Wells and obtained his Fellowship in 1958. On returning to Ceylon he was consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the General Hospital, Colombo, and visiting lecturer in orthopaedics, University of Ceylon, from 1959 to 1971. He was surgeon to the Timaru Hospital, Timaru, New Zealand, from June 1971. In 1956 he married Miss Srikantha and they had three sons. He died in 1991.