he was born on 24 june 1908, as the second son of madhavi amma and kaippilli sankara pillai, in champakulam, kuttanad now in alappuzha district of kerala. there were many exponents of kaplingadan style of 'kathakali' in this family like champakkulam paramu pillai and champakkulam shanku pillai. great kathakali master guru kunchu kurup is related to this family.