Kashinath was born on 8 May 1951 into a middle class Kannada Brahmin family in Markod, a village near Kundapura, Udupi District. His father G. Vasudeva Rao was a businessman and a trader and mother Saraswathi a homemaker. He was the second son of his parents followed by his elder brother Sathyanarayana and his younger brothers are Dattatreya, Ravi, and Umapathi along with their younger sister Gayathri. He spent his childhood in his birthplace and moved to Bangalore with his father.
