Film starring Dev Anand, Geeta Bali and K.N. Singh Rajendra Sayal (Dev Anand) becomes a millionaire from a poverty-stricken situation with the help of his friend Kalu (Johnny Walker). Jealous of his sudden elevation in status, a lawyer named Karamchand (K. N. Singh) plots to rob Sayal of all his property. For this reason, he hires Asha (Geeta Bali) to seduce Sayal and make him fall in love with her, but she ends up falling for him.

Rani Kaykayee, one of three wives of Ayodhya's Raja Dashrath, proposes that her step-son, the son of Rani Kaushalya, be crowned king, leading to preparation for his coronation. But things change suddenly after Manthra compels Kaykayee to change her mind. The latter demands two boons that were granted to her years ago - one of which is crown her son, Bharat, as king; and secondly banish Shri Ram for 14 years. When told, Ramji readily accepts and prepares to depart along with his wife, Devi Maa Sita, and brother, Lakshman. After his departure, a devastated Dashrath reflects on an incident in which he killed Shravan Kumar and got cursed by his blind parents, and when he finds that Ramji has left Ayodhya, passes away. Bharatji returns home and refuses to accept the crown and instead goes after Ramji to try and talk him out of leaving Ayodhya - albeit in vain - and returns crestfallen, still refusing the crown and taking a vow that he will immolate himself if his brother does not return ...

Chronicling the upheaval created by Maharani Kekaiyi, on the behest of her maid, Manthra, into coercing her husband, Maharaj Dashrath, to grant her two boons. The first, to let her son, Rajkumar Bharat, be crowned as Ayodhya`s Maharaja, and the second, and more fatal and drastic, to impose a fourteen year exile for Maharani Kaushalya`s son, Bhagwan Shri Ram.

While on a royal hunt, Raja Shree Dashrath hears a deer drinking from a nearby pond, shoots an arrow in it's direction, and hears a human cry of pain. When he rushes over, he sees that it is not a deer, but a young man who has come to get some water for his blind parents. Before dying, the young man asks the Raja to take some water to his thirsty parents, which he agrees to do so. When the parents find out about the death of their son, they put a curse on the Raja and his family. Thus begin the trails and tests of Raja Dashrath, when Rani Kaikaye gets him to promise to send Prince Shree Ram on 14 years banishment from the Ayodhya Kingdom; to crown Prince Shree Bharat as the new king of Ayodhya. Prince Shree Ram, Laxman, and Princess Sita agree to go on the banishment on foot, with nothing but simple clothing. Then Dashrath passes away.