Arunagiri (T. M. Soundararajan) was born in the town of Thiruvannamalai in Tami Nadu. Arunagiri was attracted to the pleasures of the flesh and spent his youth in pursuing a life of debauchery. He frequently visited the devadasi Maragatham (C. Lakshmi Rajyam). His sister Aadhi Lakshmi (B. S. Saroja) tries to reform her brother, Arunagiri, so she arranged his marriage with Gnana Valli (Sharadha). And Arunagiri was feeling unhappy in his married life. He neglects his wife and continues in his bad ways. He persuades his sister to sell all their property and their house to get money for his dissipation. He reduces himself, his wife and sister to dire poverty. His sister gave him what ever money she earned herself, to make her brother happy. It was said that since he was used to enjoying his life in debauchery, he started to suffer from leprosy and people were avoiding him. There came a time when his sister had no money to meet his demands for his dissipated life. Arunagiri said he was going to end his life because of this. To prevent Arunagiri from killing himself, his sister says that he should sell her in order to have money for prostitutes. Since he had leprosy, prostitutes could avoid him and if that were the case, Arunagiri's sister says she will offer herself to him, to stop Arunagiri from committing suicide. Hearing this shocks him to the core and changes his outlook. Till that time, he was uncaring about the consequences to his family because of his depraved lifestyle. Arunagiri feels guilty and attempts suicide by jumping off a temple tower when Lord Murugan himself, disguised as a pious young man saves him, cures his leprosy, shows him a path of religious devotion and initiates him to compose the Thiruppugazh, an anthology of songs dedicated to Lord Murugan.
