After losing his entire wealth to a courtesan, Kovalan returns to his wife, Kannagi. She offers him her last piece of jewellery to help him but he is falsely accused of theft and beheaded by the king.
Based on the story of the Hindu sage Valmiki who starts as a bandit and eventually undergoes spiritual transformation into a religious mendicant. Valmiki falls in love with a princess,who is kidnapped by the villain