Tikka Khan was born on 10 February 1915 into a Rajput Punjabi family in Jochha Mamdot village of Kallar syedan Tehsil, near Rawalpindi, Punjab, British Indian Empire. Tikka Khan never received any university education nor did he attend the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun. After his education in Rawalpindi, he joined the Army Cadet College in Nowgong, Madhya Pradesh in 1933 and joined the British Indian Army as a sepoy in 1935; he gained his commission in the army on 22 December 1940.