Vakkom B. Purushothaman, Anand Mahadevan-veteran Congress leader and advocate, was born at Vakkom near Trivandrum, the capital of Travancore, on 12 April 1928 as the son of Bhanu Panicker and Bhavani.
Beginning his political life as an active worker of the Students' Congress in 1946, he became a member of Vakkom Panchayat in 1953.