In the ancient Kingdom of Mahishmati in India, Sivagami, the queen mother (Ramya Krishnan),

carrying a baby in her arms, emerges from a cave adjoining a big waterfall. She kills the soldiers
pursuing her and sacrifices herself to save the baby. Local villagers spot the queen's hand carrying
baby in the river and rescues the infant. Sanga (Rohini) and her husband name the infant Shivudu
and raise him as their own son. They seal the cave fearing the child's safety.
Shivudu (Prabhas) grows up aspiring to hike the waterfall, he makes several unsuccessful attempts
much against his mother's wishes. Sanga reaches out to Swamiji (Tanikella Bharani) fearing her
child's safety who advises her to pour water on Shivling for 116 times. When Shivudu finds this, he
picks Shivling on his shoulders and puts it right below the waterfall which delights his mother. He
then finds a mask of a girl which torrents from the waterfall, curious to find out who she is, he
attempts to hike the waterfall again and succeeds.
On top of the waterfall, Shivudu, now called Shiva, discovers that the mask belongs to Avanthika
(Tamannaah), a rebellious warrior whose group has indulged in a guerrilla warfare against king
Bhallala Deva (Rana Daggubati) of Mahishmati Kingdom. The group intends to rescue former queen
Devasena (Anushka Shetty) who is the real mother of Shiva. Avanthika is given the opportunity to
rescue the queen who has been chained in the kingdom for the past 25 years.
Avanthika falls in love with Shiva after she finds out that he has climbed the waterfall for her. Shiva
pledges to help her in her mission and sneaks into Mahishmati to rescue Devasena. There, the
king's Royal Guard Kattappa (Sathyaraj), known for his great warrior abilities, attack Shiva with his
group upon the order of the King. After Shiva beheads Bhadra (Bhallala Deva's son), Kattappa drops
his weapons on realizing that Shiva is Mahendra Baahubali, the son of late king Amarendra
Baahubali. Shiva's adoptive family travel through the cave to join the others and witness the events.
A flashback reveals the animosity between cousins Amarendra Baahubali and Bhallala Deva, whose
father is Bijjala Deva (Nassar). Bijjala was denied the throne due to his bad habits but he feels that
this was done because of his deformed hand and develops hatred towards his brother. His younger
brother Vijayendra, the king passes away at a very young age, the queen also dies giving birth to
Amarendra Baahubali. Sivagami, takes charge of running the kingdom until new king is elected,
Kattappa assists her by eliminating rebellious groups within the kingdom. Amarendra Baahubali and
Bhallala Deva are brought up together, trained in all areas including arts, science, disguise, politics
and warfare, but both of them have different approaches towards kingship. Amarendra Baahubali is
liberal to everyone but Bhallala Deva is violent and achieves his goals with any means possible.
When a war is forced upon Mahishmati by Kalakeyas, Sivagami promises that new king will be the
one who beheads the kalakeya king and orders the war resources be distributed equally between

the two cousins. Bijjala deva uses his cunningness to make sure Bhalladeva gets maximum war
fare. Amarendra Baahubali with the limited resources given to him uses his skill and innovative war
techniques to crush the enemy. Bhallala Deva uses all the resources of the army, killing innocent
people as well as the enemy, to win the war. Sivagami announces Amarendra Baahubali as the new
emperor because of his nobility and leadership in the war and Bhallala Deva as army general.
After the flashback, Sanga wishes to see Amarendra Baahubali but Kattapa tells everyone that the
king is dead and tearfully reveals himself as the killer.