Drastamat Kanayan was born in Surmali, Russian Empire (present-day Iğdır, Turkey) in 1884. He was the son of Martiros Kanayan, the head of the Kanayan clan in Igdir, and his wife, Horom. At an early age, Martiros enrolled his son to the parish school of Igdir. Drastamat would skip school to hang out near the military barracks of Igdir because of his interest in the military exercises held there. Igdir at the time was an important military post where between 8000 and 10000 Russian troops were stationed including infantry, Cossacks, cavalry and border guards. Most of the inhabitants of the village thrived by trading with the soldiers. Noticing that his son had no interest in books and learning, Martiros pulled him out of the village school and enrolled him to the Yerevan Gymnasium school.

Drastamat was no better in the Gymnasium school as the grades he achieved were barely enough for a promotion. Like all government schools in the provinces of Russia, there was a policy of Russification that limited education in the Armenian language to religion only. Inspired by stories of General Andranik's triumphs in the Ottoman Empire and the spread of nationalism by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Drastamat joined a secret youth movement in his school that opposed the Czar's government and promoted Armenian nationalism.