Lt General Sundararajan Padmanabhan was born on 5th November at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.He was the alumnus of the Rashtriya Indian Military College; Dehradun. Sundararajan Padmanabhan attended National Defense Academy at Khadakwasla in Pune 1956.In the year of 1949 he was commissioned in the Regiment of Artillery from the Indian Military Academy. He graduated from the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and the National Defence College; New Delhi. General Sundararajan Padmanabhan was given command in the famous Gazala Mountain Regiment, which is one of the oldest battle-tested artillery regiments of the Indian Army. General Sundararajan Padmanabhan had a unique experience of commanding two infantry brigade and artillery brigade in different important terrain in between July 1985 to February 1991.During this time he set record. After that he got promotion as a Major General he commanded Infantry Division in the Western Sector and subsequently he was appointed as a Lieutenant General in Kashmir Valley. At that time General Sundararajan Padmanabhan was the commander of the 15 Corps and the Army made big achievements against the terrorists in Kashmir. On 01 September 1996, he was nominated as the GOC of the Northern Command at Udhampur.In 1999 he was appointed as the GOC of Southern Command. Lt Gen Padmanabhan assumed the charge of the Chief of the Army Staff on October 1, 2000.

Before being appointed as the Chief of Army Staff, General Padmanabhan was given several prestigious posts including the post of the Major of an infantry brigade, Colonel General Staff of a mountain division and Instructor in Gunnery at the School of Artillery, Deolali, and Instructor at the IMA. General Sundararajan Padmanabhan was also appointed as the Chief Staff of a Corps in the eastern sector and Director General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) at Army Headquarters. General Padmanabhan retired on 31 December 2002, after completing more than 43 years of distinguished military service. General Sundararajan Padmanabhan was popularly known as Paddy within his army circles. He was an Honorary ADC to the President of India.