Guptan Nair was born at Oachira, a temple town famous for Oachira Parabrahma Temple, near Kayamkulam in present dayKollam district of the south Indian state of Kerala on August 22, 1919 to Sankara Pillai, a known ayurvedic scholar and physician and his wife, Kali Amma.His early schooling was the local school in Kayamkulam after which he graduated with honours in Malayalam literature from Government Arts College, Thiruvananthapuram in 1941.