A king Parthiban (Ramadas) gifts a rare anklet (salangai) to a dancer Aparajita (Kumari Madhuri). She incurs the displeasure of people who do not like a dancer having a hold over the kingdom. She begets the king's son, Amarendran and hands him over to a priest along with the anklet. She dies after extracting a promise from him that the truth will be revealed at an appropriate time. Amarendran grows into a strong young man (Gemini Ganesan) interested in music, dancing and martial arts. One day, a special festival is arranged and the priest thinks it is time to reveal the secret. He carries the anklet in a wooden box, and while crossing a river in floods, he loses the anklet. It is found by Amarendran, who also rescues a dancer Mallika (Kumari Kamala) from the floods. He hands over the anklet to the king. Amarendran also happens to meet a beautiful singer Shantha (Savithri), who falls in love with him. Mallika impresses the king, is subsequently appointed the court dancer and gets the anklet as a gift. In another dance competition, Mallika dances with Kamavalli (Kushalakumari) and the anklet gets stolen due to a conspiracy. The villain Nagadevan (Manohar) lusts after Mallika. How Amarendran and Shantha are united forms the rest of the story.