This legend drawn from the Asokavadana stories is set at the time of the Maurya empire (3rd C. B.C.). Kunal (Sandow), son of Emperor Ashoka (Athanavale) amd Queen Padmavati, has beautiful eyes but a prediction says he will go blind. The villainous Tishyaraksha (Yakbal) gains Ashoka's confidence and plots to have Kunal blinded and killed. The official executioners spare Kunal and he becomes a wandering singer accompanied by his favourite wife Kanchanmala (Moti). In Pataliputra, Ashoka hears Kunal's song, realizes that Kunal's misfortune may have been a punishment for some past sin of the emperor himself and condemns Tishyaraksha to death, restoring Kunal to the court.