 Nijalingappa was born on 10 December 1902 to a middle class family in Haluvagalu, a small village in Bellary, Karnataka (then in the Madras Presidency of British India).His father, a small businessman, died when Nijalingappa was five; his mother was a homemaker.The family were Lingayat Hindus; Nijalingappa's mother was noted as a devout worshipper of Shiva.