Shiv Kumar Batalvi was born on 23 July 1936 (though a few documents related to him state 8 October 1937) in the village Bara Pind Lohtian, Shakargarh Tehsil, Sialkot District (now in Punjab, Pakistan), in a Brahmin Family to Pandit Krishan Gopal Sharma, village tehsildar in the revenue department, and Shanti Devi, a housewife.

In 1947, when he was aged 11, his family moved to Batala, Gurdaspur district after the partition of India, where his father continued his work as a patwari and young Shiv received his primary education. Allegedly, he was a dreamy child, often vanishing for the duration of the day, to be found lying under trees by the riverbank close to the Mandir or Hindu temple outside the village, lost in a brown reverie. He appears to have been fascinated by local renditions of the Hindu epic Ramayana, as well as wandering minstrel singers, snake charmers, and the like – which feature as metaphors in his poetry, giving it a uniquely rural flavor.