HAYAVADANA

Critical Analysis
Girish Karnad is a gifted writer, actor and director of films. He is the
well-known author of the Kannada plays
entitled Tughlaq and Yayati. Now he has translated into English his
own work Hayavadana. It is mainly based on the famous Katha
Sarit Sagara tale that Thomas Mann made use of, for his short but
great novel The Transposed Heads. In all his three plays-whether the
theme is historical or mythical or legendary- Karnad‟s approach is
modern. He wonderfully brings into play the conventions and motifs
of folk-art like masks and curtains in order to project a world of
intensities, uncertainties and unpredictable denouements.

Devadatta and Kapila are close friends. The former is an intellectual

companion, while the latter is of a sensual type. Devedatta is already
married to a lady named Padmini. But later Kapila falls in love with
her. The two friends, so as to get over the situation, decide to kill
themselves. They perform the act. Padmini transposes the heads,
while rejoining the severed limbs. It naturally results in confusion of
identities and several complications arise from it. It drives them to
fight a duel and they kill themselves again. Then Padmini ascends
their funeral pyre and performs Sati (Dying along with the husband).
It is a highly tantalizing story, even without the psychological
dimension and Karnad very ably makes the most of it.

Hayavadana is one of Karnad‟s most remarkable works. The plot of

Hayavadana comes from ‘Kantha Sarit Sagara„ an ancient
compilation of stories in Sanskrit. The central event in the play- the
story of Devadatta and Kapila is based on the tale from the “Betal
Panchabinsati.” But he has borrowed it through Thomas Mann‟s
retelling of the story in „The Transposed Heads.‟
The Sanskrit tale told by a ghost to an adventurous king gains a
further mock-heroic dimension in Mann‟s version. The original story
poses a moral problem, whereas Mann uses it to ridicule the
mechanical notion of life which differentiates between body and soul.
He ridicules the philosophy which holds the head superior to the
body.

The human body, Mann argues is a device for the completion of

human destiny. Even the transposition of heads did not literate the
protagonists from the physiological limits imposed by nature.
Karnad‟s poses a different problem, that of human identity in world of
tangled relationships. When the play opens, Devadatta and Kapila are
the closer of friend‟s one mind, one heart as Bhagavata describes
them. Devadatta is a man of intellect, Kapila a man of the body. Their
relations get complicated when Devadatta marries Padmini.

Kapila falls in love with Padmini and she too starts drifting towards
him. The friends kill themselves in a scene, hilariously comic, but at
the same time, full of dramatic connotations Padmini transposes their
heads, giving Devadatta Kapila‟s body and Kapila Devadatta‟s. As a
result Padmini gets the desired „Man.‟ Kali understood each
individuals moral fibre and was indifferent than the usual
stereotypical portrayal of God and Goddesses.

The result is a confusion of identities which reveals the ambiguous

nature of human personality. Initially Devadattaactually the head of
Devadatta on kapila‟s body-behaves differently from what he was
before. But slowly he changes to his former self. So does Kapila,
faster than Devadatta. But there is a difference. Devadatta stops
reading texts, does not write poetry, while Kapila is haunted by the
memories in Devadatta‟s body.

Padmini, after the exchange of heads, had felt that she had the best of
both the man, gets slowly disappointed of the three, only she has the
capacity for complete experience. She understands, but cannot control
the circumstances in which she is placed. Her situation is beautifully
summed up by the image of river and the scare-crow in the choric
songs.
The sword fight that leaves both the friends dead brings to baffling
story to end. The death of three protagonists was not portrayed
tragically… the death only to emphasise the logic behind absurdity of
the situation.

The sub-plot of Hayavadana— the horse-man, deepens the

significance of the main theme of incompleteness, by looking at it
from different perspective. The horseman‟s search for completeness
ends comically with his becoming a complete horse. The animal body
triumphs over what is considered the best in man, the „Utta Maga‟,
the human head‟s probably to make a point, Karnad names the play
„HAYAVADANA‟ human‟s search for completeness.

Hayavadana Themes
Identity, Hybridity, and Incompleteness
One of the common threads throughout Hayavadana is the recurrence of
beings that are hybrids, with minds and bodies that are not ordinarily
compatible. The play contains three “layers”: first, a ritual prayer; second,
the plot concerning Hayavadana; and third, the actual “story” being
presented about two men whose heads are accidentally swapped. Karnad
uses these beings to demonstrate that incompleteness is an integral aspect
of the human condition, and that although it is human nature to strive
toward completeness, it is inevitably unattainable.

At the very outset of the play, hybridity is presented as an ideal. The play
begins with a puja (i.e., a prayer ritual) for the mask of Ganesha, one of the
main deities in Hinduism. Ganesha is a god with the body of a boy and the
head of an elephant. The Bhagavata points out that Ganesha’s
appearance makes him seem imperfect, and yet he is thought of as “the
Lord and Master of Success and Perfection.” This leads the Bhagavata to
suggest that Ganesha really signifies that “the completeness of God is
something no poor mortal can comprehend.” Thus, although Ganesha
appears to be made of fragments of different beings, he is nevertheless
associated with completion. At the end of the play, the Bhagavata once
again thanks Ganesha for ensuring the completion and success of their
play. However, by the play’s end, none of the human characters have
achieved the same sense of completeness.

In the second framing device of the play, which contains the plot of
Hayavadana himself, Hayavadana longs for completeness. Hayavadana is
a creature with a man’s body and a horse’s head, the offspring of a deity in
horse form and a woman. He explains that all his life he has been trying to
remove his horse’s head so that he can become a complete man. He goes
to Kali’s temple to try to change his head into a man’s head, but she
interrupts him in the middle of his request and instead turns him into a
complete horse. When he finds that his voice remains, he is disappointed
that he is still a hybrid creature. At the very end of the play, Hayavadana is
magically able to achieve completeness with the help of the young boy. As
they sing and laugh together, he loses his human voice in exchange for a
horse neigh. Even though he is able to find unity, it is not in human form but
rather as an animal being, reinforcing the idea that humans are incapable
of true completeness.

The play’s primary story line concerns two friends: Devadatta, a poet,
and Kapila, a wrestler, as they vie for Padmini’s affection. Although
Padmini marries Devadatta at the beginning of the story, she also has
feelings for Kapila. In despair over seeing Padmini gaze longingly at Kapila,
Devadatta decides to cut off his own head. Kapila discovers Devadatta’s
body and also cuts off his head, mourning the loss of his best friend.
Padmini calls on the goddess Kali to revive them, but she accidentally
swaps their heads, so that each has the body of one man and the head of
another. The incompleteness of the two men becomes the main conflict
between all three characters. Their inability to find a sense of wholeness
drives them to kill each other/themselves at the end of the play. After their
heads are swapped, the men’s bodies begin to change as they assimilate
with their new heads. The body of Kapila becomes soft and weak now that
it is attached to Devadatta’s head, while the body of Devadatta becomes
more muscular with Kapila’s head. However, Devadatta no longer writes
poetry now that he is attached to Kapila’s body, and Kapila mentions that
his new body has memories of feelings that he does not know how to name
because he did not experience them. The situation leaves a hollowness in
both of their lives. Ultimately, neither is satisfied with this new half-
existence, so they resolve kill each other.

Padmini exemplifies her own kind of incompleteness. She marries

Devadatta for his mind, but even in their marriage she acknowledges her
physical attraction to Kapila. When the two men switch heads, she initially
seems to have gotten the best of both worlds, but as the men’s bodies
change, she recognizes that none of them can go on living, as her own
desire is split in between the minds and bodies of the men. After the two
men kill each other, abandoning her, she realizes her own incompleteness
and performs sati (a practice in which a widow throws herself onto her
husband’s funeral pyre).

Although all of the characters attempt to find unity within themselves, all the
human characters are ultimately unable to do so. As each loses a part of
his or her identity—whether it is a head, a body, or a lover—they work to
return to a sort of equilibrium, but the fates of Karnad’s various human
characters suggest that humans always suffer from a sense of
incompletion. The only character that achieves unity is Hayavadana, but he
becomes complete only as a horse, not as a man. Karnad thus suggests
that completeness is left to beings that are divine, while humans work at—
and ultimately fail to achieve—a true sense of completion in their identities.

The Mind vs. The Body

The most central plot of Hayavadana is the love triangle
between Padmini, Devadatta, and Kapila. Devadatta and Kapila, who are
best friends, both fall in love with Padmini, who in turn is attracted to
attributes in each of them. The dynamics between the three characters
dramatize the conflict between the mind and the body. The play shows that
while the head may be more in control of the body and may follow more
logical instincts, the body and its desires can prove just as strong in
swaying the course of human life.

At the beginning of the play, before Padmini is introduced, Devadatta and

Kapila’s friendship reflects the mind having more control over the body.
Devadatta, a poet, represents the mind and intellect. He has a lot of sway
over the actions and emotions of Kapila, a wrestler (who represents the
body and its desires). For example, Kapila tells Devadatta that he would
walk into fire for Devadatta, and that he is closer to Devadatta than he is to
his own parents. Kapila agrees to woo Padmini on behalf of Devadatta,
even though he himself has feelings for Padmini and remarks that she
needs a “man of steel” like himself.

When Padmini becomes more integrated into the story, she follows her
head and marries Devadatta. But she quickly realizes that she also has
feelings and desire for Kapila. She is particularly desirous of his body.
Karnad does not write any interactions between Devadatta and Padmini
before they are married. Instead, the Bhagavata provides the most insight
on why she decides to marry him, explaining that because her family was
wealthy, and his family was intellectual, nothing could have stood in the
way of their marriage. But when the storyline resumes, after the two are
married and Padmini is pregnant, Devadatta quickly becomes jealous of
Padmini’s affection towards Kapila. Padmini watches Kapila when he does
anything physically demanding because Kapila is much more fit,
demonstrating her own transition from desire for the mind to desire for the
body. When the two men switch bodies, the conflict becomes even more
explicit, as there is confusion over who is Padmini’s husband: the man with
Devadatta’s head and Kapila’s body, or the man with Kapila’s head and
Devadatta’s body? Padmini, for her own part, shows her desires quite
plainly as she goes immediately with Devadatta’s head/Kapila’s body, a
being that speaks to her two desires.

The dolls that Devadatta buys for his and Padmini’s child eventually
become symbols of Padmini’s bodily desire, expressing her inner thoughts
to the audience. They establish their connection to desire by describing
how the other children and mothers look at them with glowing eyes. As the
story progresses, the dolls describe how Devadatta’s hands have softened,
signaling Padmini’s waning desire for the new version of Devadatta
because his body is reverting to its old form. The dolls eventually narrate
Padmini’s dreams, describing how she is dreaming of a man with a “rough”
face and a “nice body,” demonstrating how she continues to feel conflicted
between her mind and body as the men return to their original states.

The story of Devadatta, Kapila, and Padmini thus dramatizes the conflict
between the mind and the body, or between logic and lust. Although initially
the head (personified by Devadatta) wins, eventually the body (personified
by Kapila) demonstrates its equal power over human emotions and actions.
Ultimately, because they are unable to reconcile this contrast, the two men
kill each other and Padmini kills herself, proving that when these two sides
of human beings are not in agreement, the consequences can be tragic.

Metatheatre and Storytelling

Metatheatre describes aspects of a play that draw attention to its nature as
a play. Though the “play within a play” is a common conceit, Hayavadana is
unusual in that it has several layers: first, the play opens with a ritual to
Ganesha, as the Bhagavata (a narrator-like character) asks Ganesha to
bless the play that the company is about to perform. In the middle of this
ritual, Hayavadana is introduced and he explains his origin as a half-horse,
half-man. As he goes off to attempt to change his head into a human head,
the Bhagavata begins the real play, which concerns the love triangle
of Devadatta, Kapila, and Padmini. Eventually, the storylines begin to
interrupt and weave in and out of one another, and the Bhagavata appears
not to know what happens as the story continues. Although this unique use
of three separate storylines may seem at first to distract from the main
storyline, the play’s metatheatrical elements and the eventual surprise
return of Padmini’s child ultimately invite the audience to believe in the
power of stories, and in the power of the joy that can be found in stories.

Throughout the play, various characters wear masks. Thus, rather than
attempting realism, Karnad draws attention to the fact that the audience is
watching a play and plays many dramatic moments for comedic effect.
First, the puja to Ganesha introduces the symbol of the masks. The mask
of Ganesha is the mask of an elephant, establishing masks as a theatrical
device. Hayavadana’s mask is that of a horse’s head, and draws attention
to the theatrical conceit of an actor playing a man with a horse’s head, and
this incongruity elicits a lot of comedy as he tries to hide his head and as
the Bhagavata attempts to pull it off. Devadatta and Kapila also are played
by actors wearing masks because their heads eventually must be “cut off”
and switched. This allows Karnad to use what might in another play be a
serious moment to comic effect, as the two struggle to cut off their “heads.”

As the story continues into the second act, it seems to spin more and more
out of the Bhagavata’s control, and the storylines begin to intersect with
one another. The Bhagavata starts to interact with the characters directly,
speaking to Kapila when he discovers him in the woods and startled by
finding Devadatta there as well. He also speaks to Padmini before she
performs sati, and she tells him to take care of her infant son. At these
moments, the line between the world of the storyteller and the world of the
story is blurred, thereby also disrupting the distinction between fiction and
reality, or the stage and the world at large. This is also true of
Hayavadana’s storyline; because he “interrupts” the play, it is as if he exists
on the same level of reality as the audience rather than remaining inside
the play with the other characters. In this way, the play repeatedly calls
attention to the fact that it is a play, and makes use of such moments to
create humor, as well as to comment on the importance of telling stories
more generally.

The joy found in this kind of storytelling becomes most thematically

resonant at the end of the play, when a young child appears onstage. The
Bhagavata quickly realizes that it is Padmini’s child by the mole on his
shoulder and the dolls he carries, which Padmini had given to him.
An actor explains that the child has never laughed, cried, or spoken in his
life, but he begins to laugh at Hayavadana because of his human voice and
horse body. The child’s joy causes Hayavadana to laugh as well, and as
his laughter turns into a horse’s neigh, he loses his human voice and
becomes a complete horse. This gives closure to the two main storylines of
the play (Padmini’s story and Hayavadana’s). The fact that Padmini’s child
returns at the end as an older boy within the Hayavadana storyline pulls the
two stories—which were previously presented as separate—into the same
reality. When the boy and Hayavadana find happiness with each other,
each storyline finds its end. The metatheatrical elements of the play are
repeatedly played for comedic effect, but the end of the play goes further,
reinforcing the power of storytelling to bring people together.

Indian Culture and Nationalism

Hayavadana is the most successful example of the “theatre of roots”
movement in India. This movement began after India gained independence
from Britain in 1947, and playwrights began to move away from Western
dramatic conventions in favor of using regional languages and theatrical
forms in their plays. Hayavadana itself is written in the regional Indian
language Kannada and uses elements of
Indian yakshagana and natak theater. Karnad uses these various theatrical
forms within his play to argue that the idea of India as a unified nation is a
construction, and that modern Indian culture is in fact made up of many
diverse traditions.

Even the play and its source material are filtered through several distinct
cultural lenses. The source material for the story of Devadatta, Kapila,
and Padmini is based on a Sanskrit myth from
the Kathasaritasagara. However, Karnad’s more direct source for the text
was a play by Thomas Mann called The Transposed Heads, which had
been adapted from the Kathasaritasagara. Thus, the stories retold in
Karnad’s play had already been filtered through a different (Western)
cultural lens by the time Karnad wrote his own version in Kannada (a
regional dialect of India). Putting his own spin on the original myth and the
Mann adaptation, Karnad emphasizes the symbolic nature of each
character by characterizing Devadatta primarily by his mind and Kapila by
his body, and frames the story by nesting it inside two other plot lines.

Hayavadana is also written and performed with the aid of many different
forms of Indian theatre, which are referenced throughout. However, these
traditions are updated, making it a distinctly modern adaptation despite its
references to traditional styles of theater. The play borrows elements from
different kinds of traditional Indian theatre, such as yakshagana. One
example of this borrowing occurs when Hayavadana is introduced through
the use of a half-curtain. Traditionally this technique is used to prolong the
introduction of a character, revealing them little by little to make their
entrance more exciting, but in this play it is used for comedic effect as his
horse’s head keeps popping out and he continues to duck behind the
curtain.

The scene in which Kapila goes to woo Padmini for Devadatta is a scene
that is borrowed from older stories told in Indian theater, but a modern spin
is put on it by having the woman outwit the man instead of the other way
around. The use of masks is also a convention borrowed tradition from
Indian as well as Greek theatre, amplifying various characters’
characteristics and helping audience members distinguish between them.
One of the ways that the play may appear to be slightly more unified
culturally is through its treatment of religion, but Karnad makes it clear that
nationalism is not an ideal within the play through his characters’
commentary on the subject. Deities are certainly an integral part
of Hayavadana as they ask Ganesha to remove all obstacles from the play,
and as the goddess Kali grants the desires of various characters, but
Karnad makes it clear that these cultural pillars are not the same thing as
the state of the nation, as the Bhagavata asks Ganesha at the end to
“Give the rulers of our country success in all endeavours, and along with it,
a little bit of sense.”

Hayavadana himself recounts his efforts to be more unified as an individual

being as he tries to reconcile his horse head and human body. He
describes how in order to do this he took an interest in “the social life of the
Nation,” but cannot seem to find his society. Hayavadana makes an
explicitly anti-nationalistic comment at the end of the play—ironically, just
after he enters singing the Indian national anthem. Wishing to get rid of the
only part of himself that remains human—his voice—Hayavadana tells the
Bhagavata, “That’s why I sing all these patriotic songs—and the National
Anthem! That particularly! I have noticed that the people singing the
National Anthem always seemed to have ruined their voices.” Thus,
Karnad’s use of a variety of theatrical styles, along with his own
commentary on the notion of India as a unified nation, show that India is
not characterized by a singular or unified culture, but rather is made up of a
rich array of cultural traditions.
 Hayavadana Characters
The Bhagavata

In Hinduism a Bhagavata is a worshipper or devotee. In this play, the

Bhagavata serves as the narrator. He presents and interprets the
action of the play’s main storyline, the story of Devadatta, Kapila,
and Padmini. Although the Bhagavata is the play’s narrator, it is
revealed over the course of the play that he is not in control of the
story. First, Hayavadana interrupts the Bhagavata’s story. The
Bhagavata is surprised to encounter this creature, and attempts to
council Hayavadana on how to rid himself of his horse’s head before
resuming his narration. In the second act of the play, after Devadatta
and Kapila’s heads have switched and time has passed, the
Bhagavata starts to speak directly to the characters. He is surprised
to find Kapila living in the jungle and startled when Devadatta arrives
at Kapila’s home to find Padmini. When Padmini decides to
perform sati, the Bhagavata speaks to her directly and tries to
dissuade her. Thus the Bhagavata’s arc reflects how the play’s plot
developments become unexpected even to its narrator, and that the
play itself demonstrates the chaos and unpredictability of life.

Devadatta

Devadatta is one of the two heroes of the play’s main storyline. His
name means “god-given,” and the Bhagavata describes him as “fair in
colour” (the actor who portrays him wears a white mask) and
“unrivalled in intelligence.” He is the son of a Brahmin (i.e., a religious
teacher) and he is unrivaled in his skill as a poet and pundit. He
and Kapila start the play as close friends, but when he falls in love
with Padmini, a rivalry starts between the two men. After he and
Padmini marry, he grows jealous of the affection she shows toward
Kapila, which drives him to cut off his head. When his head is
swapped with Kapila’s, he is happy to have his mind, Kapila’s
strength, and Padmini by his side. But when his body begins to revert
to its old form (i.e., soft and weak), he once again feels dissatisfied
and worried that Padmini feels that something is lacking in their
relationship. Ultimately, he realizes that he will always be incomplete,
and he attempts to end his cycle of frustration by ending both his and
Kapila’s lives. The two of them kill each other with swords as an act of
mercy, forgiving each other for their rivalry in the process.

Kapila

Kapila is one of the two heroes of the play’s main storyline. His name
means “reddish brown,” as his skin is dark and he is the son of an
iron-smith. As a counterpart to Devadatta, Kapila wears a black mask,
and the Bhagavata describes how “in deeds which require drive and
daring, in dancing, in strength and in physical skills, he has no
equal.” Kapila is a devoted friend to Devadatta, and goes to find
out Padmini’s name on his behalf. However, Kapila quickly realizes
that Devadatta is no match for Padmini, and that instead she needs a
“man of steel” like himself. His feats of physical strength continue to
impress Padmini even after she and Devadatta are married. Even
though he clearly has feelings for Padmini, he is also a loyal friend,
and when Devadatta cuts off his own head out of jealousy, Kapila
follows suit. Yet once their heads are switched, Kapila wastes no time
in arguing that Padmini is actually his wife because he now has
Devadatta’s body. When his arguments are unsuccessful, he
abandons society to live in the jungle. He works himself back into
shape physically, but is haunted by the memories that Devadatta’s
body possesses. He agrees, along with Devadatta, to end his hollow
existence by killing and being killed.

Padmini

Padmini is the spark that ignites the rivalry

between Devadatta and Kapila. She marries Devadatta because she
loves his mind, but she quickly realizes how sensitive Devadatta is
when she makes harsh, teasing comments (a fact that Kapila
understood when he met her for the first time). Even while she is
pregnant with Devadatta’s child, she begins to pine for Kapila’s
muscular body, and it is her split desire which causes Devadatta to
kill himself, followed quickly by Kapila. When Padmini switches the
men’s heads accidentally, she appears to get the best of both worlds
now that Devadatta’s head is attached to Kapila’s body, but as the
men’s bodies slowly return to their former states, she begins to yearn
again for a different life. When the two men kill each other at the end
of the play, she laments that they have once again left her all alone.
She tells the Bhagavata to take care of her son and performs sati,
throwing herself on the funeral pyre. Her storyline dramatizes the
ways in which the mind—and tools of rationality more generally—can
be irreconcilably at odds with the desires of the body.

Hayavadana

Hayavadana’s name is apt, as it literally means “horse face.”

Hayavadana interrupts the main action of the play to explain his origin
story to the Bhagavata. He is the product of a marriage between a
princess and a Celestial Being in horse form. He is desperate to try
and get rid of his horse’s head and become a whole man. He travels
to the goddess Kali’s temple to ask to become a complete man, but
instead she turns him into a complete horse. He is happy to be a
complete being, but laments that he retains his human voice. When
a young boy enters the scene and begins to laugh at him and sing
with him, he is able to lose his human voice, and thereby becomes a
complete horse.

Boy

Padmini’s son, who appears onstage as a young boy at the very end of
the play (where as an infant the character is represented onstage by a
wooden doll). The first actor explains that his whole life the boy has
been silent, as he grew up in the forest. He also inherits a sense of
incompleteness, as he is technically has two fathers, one of whom
has the body of his father, Devadatta, and one of whom has the head.
When he is introduced he can only clutch his dolls, and does not
laugh or cry until he sees Hayavadana. He begins to laugh and sing
with the horse, and Hayavadana in turn is able to lose his human
voice and become a whole being. Thus, through laughter and joy,
these two characters find the completeness for which the rest of the
characters had been searching.

Kali

A Hindu goddess of death, Kali appears as various characters go to

her temple throughout the play. Devadatta sacrifices his head to her,
and Kali interrupts Padmini as she tries to kill herself as well. Kali
revives Devadatta and Kapila, but only after Padmini has accidentally
swapped their heads. When Hayavadana travels to her temple to ask
her to make him a complete man, she instead makes him a complete
horse. She demonstrates the indifference of the gods as well as their
ability to sow chaos just as easily as they create order.

Hayavadana Symbols
Masks
While masks are used in theatre for many different purposes,
in Hayavadana masks represent a character’s incompleteness. For
each character that has a mask, the mask represents the
incompatibility between the character’s head and body. In the puja to
Ganesha, a mask is brought out that represents the god, who has the
head of an elephant and the body of a boy. The actors
portraying Devadatta, Kapila, and Hayavadana also have masks,
because their heads are (or become) incongruous with their bodies.
Though the masks also make the audience members aware that they
are watching a play because they go against a more realistic
presentational style, they also remind the audience that the
characters wearing them strive for a more complete human existence.

The Fortunate Lady’s Flower

The fortunate lady’s flower appears several times throughout the play,
and symbolizes the limitations of Padmini’s happiness in her marriage.
When Padmini, Devadatta, and Kapila are traveling in their cart,
Padmini spots a beautiful tree and asks Kapila what it is. He explains
that the flower gets its name because “it has all the marks of marriage
a woman puts on” (yellow like the color of her dress, a red spot like
on her forehead, black marks resembling a necklace). Padmini is
entranced by Kapila’s explanation, and also by his body as he climbs
to retrieve the flowers for her. Thus the use of the flower is a
duplicitous symbol. Although Kapila explains that it signifies
marriage, for Padmini, it also represents her thoughts of infidelity,
and how she is dissatisfied in her marriage to a single man. The tree
appears later, when Padmini visits Kapila in the forest (after he and
Devadatta have switched bodies) and she expresses that she is
unhappy and that she misses Kapila. Finally, the Bhagavata explains
that the tree grows where Padmini performs sati, thus defining both
her life and her death by the limitations of her marriage.
 EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN IN GIRISH KARNAD’S
HAYAVADANA

DR. TARUNA ANAND

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
AMITY UNIVERSITY
DELHI
INDIA

Abstract
The Indian cultural traditions are male-dominated, hardly giving any scope for women to
exercise their freedom for fulfillment of desires and development of identity which they claim
as of their own. Karnad was well acquainted with feminist ideologies and the havoc wrought
by patriarchal ideologies in Indian society. His plays abound with subalterns especially
women and lower caste people subjected since ancient time by patriarchy or upper hierarchy
of the society. Karnad’s women play lead roles in the discussion of several contemporary
issues and problems. It is quite interesting to point out that Karnad gauges both internal and
external world of woman’s life. The theme of the play Hayavadana if analyzed from the
socio-cultural and gender level, we notice that there is a conflict between two polarities
namely, Apollonian and Dionysian. Hayavadana depicts the drama of tangled relationships
where Devadatta a man of intellect and mind, and Kapila a man of steel like body, are
friends and lovers of Padmini, the wife of Devadatta. She loves the fabulous mind in the
fabulous body. Padmini’s quest for completeness and perfection brings downfall in her
personal life and is alienated. Her performance of ‘Sati’ is a social demand for infidelity in
married life. She tries to revolt against socio-cultural forces which engulfed her. These forces
alienated her from the worldly life she does not wish to compromise with and finally she finds
relief in death.
Key Words: Revolutionary, Apollonian, Dionysian, Bellicose, Patriarchal, Alienated.
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Girish Karnad, apart from being an acclaimed actor and director of theatre and films, is a
path-breaking playwright of post-independence India. He is an extremely innovative
playwright who was born in 1938 in Matheran, Karnataka. For his contribution in the field of
direction, acting, script-writing and playwriting, he has earned many fellowships and awards
of which Fulbright Fellowship, Sahitya Akademi award and Jnanpeeth award deserves
special mention. Karnad delves into Indian myths and legends, using them as vehicles of a
new vision. Through these myths he tries to depict the absurdity of life with all its elemental
passions, conflicts and man’s eternal struggle to achieve perfection. His portrayal of
characters in general is revolutionary, and his women characters can be considered the
enlightened and emancipated women of modern times. Among the treasure-trove of his plays
are included Yayati, Tughlaq, Hayavadana, Tale-Danda, The Dreams of Tipu Sultan, Naga-
Mandala, The Fire and the Rain, Bali: The Sacrifice, Broken Images, Flowers and Wedding
Album.
The Indian cultural traditions are male-dominated, hardly giving any scope for women to
exercise their freedom for fulfillment of desires and development of identity which they
claim as of their own. They have internally colonized the minds of women, often making
them aware of the limitations. Karnad has attempted decolonization of the cultural and
society in two ways. Firstly, he shows the weakness and hypocrisy of attitude, social, cultural
and moral values and practices, and secondly by making his women sharply react against
these values. For this purpose, he borrows the plot from myths, legends and folk-tales and
assimilates to the contemporary situations, brings out the differences between mythical,
fantasy world of make belief and realistic contemporary world. It is this journey from
mythical world to the world of reality, social and psychological, that offers large scope for
discussion of new women from different points of view.
Karnad’s women play lead roles in the discussion of several contemporary issues and
problems: specifically women’s individuality, family, marriage, chastity, fidelity, society,
culture, politics, religion and rituals, mirroring contemporary life, a post-colonial
phenomenon. This can be observed in the women who belong to different strata of society
and social hierarchy—intellectual, royal families, religious priests, Dalits and tribal, etc. Each
women character is unique in her personality in creating her world in her own ways and

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desires to live life as she finds fine and suitable in the present multi-dimensional, socio-
cultural milieu. Each women presents different aspects of the history of the Indian society
and its culture and helps to evaluate them in the contemporary contexts.
It is quite interesting to point out that Karnad gauges both internal and external world of
woman’s life. The inner world of woman involves desire for several subjective needs and
their fulfilment. Eros or accomplishment of carnal desire is the core aspect of Karnad’s
woman’s personality in each play in different situations. She loves man of her taste if she is
virgin and after marriage another man and does not suppresses the passion under the
ritualistic principles of the society and its sanction. He has shown that such suppression of
natural instinct would result in turmoil and disorder in the normal life of the woman. Pure
love does not recognize chastity, ethical and moral values attached to it. Karnad is
revolutionary and anti-moralist in this matter.
The theme of the play Hayavadana if analyzed from the socio-cultural and gender level, we
notice that there is a conflict between two polarities namely, Apollonian and Dionysian. To
explain these terms: Apollonian is the ego state which causes self-alienation and in which the
soul leaves the body. All human suffering is due to this culture of self-alienation.
Hayavadana depicts the drama of tangled relationships where Devadatta a man of intellect
and mind, and Kapila a man of steel like body, are friends and lovers of Padmini, the wife of
Devadatta. She loves the fabulous mind in the fabulous body. Padmini attempts to obtain the
perfect man without self-alienation, through the boon of Goddess Kali but her juxtaposition
of brilliant head and a strong body is easily undone by the hegemony of Apollonian culture
carried on the head. In the play, Devadatta is the character around whom the Apollonian
order is created. He is least subject to passion and therefore, least impulsive of the other
characters in the play. Whereas, Dionysian represents the mental state in which the ego wants
to be natural or really human wherein the mind and the body work together. There is no split
between them. There is a perfect harmony between them. The mind feels the bodily
experiences and body rocks with feeling of the mind. This state is called undivided body-
soul. Such an ego allows the undifferentiated, unified body-mind is called Dionysian ego, in
which the soul returns to and resides in, the body. Kapila in the play is the best example of
this. The play hints that Apollonian always asserts itself and suppresses the Dionysian in our

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socio—cultural life. Therefore the coexistence of both physically and morally is not possible.
In this regard Shubhangi S. Raykar writes:
Human Society is made possible only through submission to Apollonian principle.
The collective wisdom of society flouts passion (represented in the play by the
judgment of Rishi and Padmini’s passion for Kapila respectively). It will bring about
the destruction of the individual who defy order in society.1
Padmini is the daughter of the leading merchant in Dharampura, a wealthy and prosperous
person. In her house, “the very floor is swept by the Goddess of wealth. In Devdatta’s house,
they have the goddess of learning for a maid.”(Three Plays, 90)2 On Kapila’s cold response to
her imposing question she comments, “I know it. I knew you wouldn’t touch my feet. One
can’t even trust strangers any more. All right, my dear son! I opened the door. So consider me
the door-keeper. What do you want?” (Three Plays, 89). In spite of her assertive nature and
bellicose attitude, she is quite considerate and rational, and being born and brought up in a
rich family, she seems to have been loved to her utter satisfaction, her every desire fulfilled
by her parents. She does not surrender to mere emotion and she has no values for sentiments.
When Kapila proposes to her for his friend, Devadatta, she accepts it immediately, even
before parental deliberation. The marriage proposed from such a well-known family, the
revered family, makes her delighted and proud. “Devadatta is the only son of the Revered
Brahmin Vidyasagara. He is delicate and comely in appearance but endowed with profound
intelligence; in height he is five feet seven inches tall, he has long hair and fair face. He is a
poet, pundit and knows Vedas, he writes fine poetry and has tremendous excellence in logic”
(Three Plays, 74, 90). He is “the apple of every eye in Dharampura” (Three Plays, 74).
Devadatta has got these fine qualities in his personality but is fragile in body, is emotional
and sentimental, an Apollonian in all aspects. He loves her, her beauty and her body but has
not applied his mind and reasoning power to decipher her mind, nature and personality.
Kapila realizes that she is unfit match for Devadatta, in the very first encounter:
Devdatta, my friend. I confess to you I’m feeling uneasy. You are a gentle soul. You
can’t bear a bitter word or an evil thought. But this one is fast as lightening – and as
sharp. She is not for the like of you. What she needs is a man of steel. But what can
one do? You’ll never listen to me. And I can’t withdraw now…” (Three Plays, 90)
Raykar further remarks on Padmini’s predicament of Indian society thus:

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 Padmini’s predicament is the predicament of modern, emancipated woman in our
society who is torn between the two polarities a woman who loves her husband as
well as someone else for different aspects of their personalities. A civilized
Apollonian society and its moral code will not accept such a woman. The two men
will not accept each other when it comes to sharing a woman and the three will
destroy themselves in the process.3
The root of Padmini’s agony is the impact of patriarchal society that opposes legal system or
class conflict. It is due to this basic system of power of patriarchy Padmini undergoes
suffering and mental torture in her life. In this regard K. K. Sharma supports radical
feminist’s view who advocates that “the root cause of women’s oppression lies in patriarchal
gender relation, as opposed to legal system or class conflict”.4 Men are socialized to have
their desire fulfilled and women are socialized to meet those desires. Devadatta fulfills his
desire after getting Padmini but Padmini does not feel complete satisfaction with her
husband. The young and beautiful Padmini wants her husband hovering around her but
Devadatta spends much of his time in reading poetry or plays or writing, paying less attention
to his wife and her sensual desire. Padmini needs a man in her company who can fulfil her
womanly desire with his strong body and remain absorbed into her passion for a longer time.
But after the transformation of heads she feels happy but only for a couple of days, i.e. one
year. Even Goddess Kali could not satisfy Padmini permanently. Shubhangi S. Raykar
remarks, “Padmini knows that her illicit, extra marital relationship with Kapila will not be
acceptable to the society as it threatens the ‘order’ in this patriarchal society.”5 As
Jaganamohana Chari says, she is “repressed by the power of patriarchal values of the ruling
class ideology. But she appears to be relatively freer and more capable of distancing herself
from the hegemonic contexts. She may rest content in her consent to the hegemonic contexts,
yet she adopts the more indirect mode of facing up to reality.”6
The relationship between the three major characters conforms to the present day gender
theories. Devadatta, because of his cultivated mind rules over both Padmini and Kapila.
Padmini is the major protagonist, always at the centre of action, and the whole action of the
play revolves around her. She is a dominating central force in that both Devadatta and Kapila
try to adjust them according to her plan. She keeps them under the magnetic force by

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controlling their minds and body movements. She traps them into the knot of amorous
splendid which they are unable to escape unhurt.
So lost is she in her personal desire that she ignores her motherly responsibility towards her
own son, the piece of heart and hands him over to a third person for his nourishment. She
gives the child to the hunters who live in this forest, beseeching them that the child is
Kapila’s son, with a thought that as they loved Kapila, they would bring him up in his
interest; “Let the child grow up in the forest with the rivers and the trees. When he’s five take
him to the Revered Brahmin Vidyasagara of Dharampura. Tell him it’s Devadatta son”
(Three Plays, 131). Here she adopts dualistic plan for the safety of the child and his future.
Padmini is a victim of the patriarchal order where woman are subjected to the patriarchal
culture. The marriage between Devadatta and Padmini is settled by the parents without
considering Padmini’s liking and disliking. Born in an affluent and rich family she has
developed her personality, which searches for perfection. It is after finding unsuitability and
malelessness in Devadatta that Padmini turns to Kapila, to satisfy the demand of her body and
her idea of man. But she could not go against the concepts of fidelity and sacred concept of
marriage so much respected in the culture. Aparana Dharwadker says, the play “…gives
primacy to women in the psychosexual relations of marriage, and creates a space for the
expression of, even the fulfillment of amoral female desire within the constraints of
patriarchy.”7
Padmini is a generic representative. M. K. Naik observes, “Her name indicates ‘lotus’ which
is the abode of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity as well as the paradigm of feminine
beauty made well known by Vatsayana's Kamasutra.”8 Padmini is a modern woman, freed
from the socio-cultural inhibition, who executes her desire of perfection, a perfect man in her
personal life by overthrowing the patriarchal propriety and male dominance. But according to
Naik, it is “ironical that Padmini brings no prosperity to the two friends with whom her lot is
cast.”9 By making her representative, Karnad has advocated the cause of women for freedom,
for execution of desire as well choice they find reasonably proper.
Karnad has used Dolls as a unique device to inform the audience what is happening in the
mind of Padmini. The Dolls inform us that the person she is thinking of is not Devadatta.
Though Padmini asserts that she has forgotten Kapila, yet in her heart of hearts, she cannot
forget him. Rather, he is the prince of her dreams. The Dolls watch the dramatic action

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enacted between Devadatta and Padmini and the role Padmini is performing in her quest for
Kapila. Padmini’s assumption that she is alone, unwatched in her search of a perfect man is
wrecked through the voices of the Dolls. The Dolls, in their animated form, are individual
members of the society as well as the part of the social conscience who interpret Padmini’s
psyche and according to Erin B. Mee they narrates her “dreams about Kapila as she sleeps,
reveal the illicit desire she feels but cannot, as a married women in Indian society
articulate.”10 Padmini desires to send Devadatta to Ujjain after finding excuse in the torn out
Dolls, as a part of her plan so that she can find safe route to approach Kapila.
Doll I: (to Doll II): Did you hear that? She wants to throw us out....
Doll II: She wants new dolls
Doll I: The whore
Doll II: The bitch
Doll I: May her house burn down
Doll I: May her teeth fall out (Three Plays, 121)
“the joys of married life”( Three Plays, 111).
Devadutta (embracing Padmini) My Padmini....
My lovely Padmini....
Padmini: My King - My Master....
Devadatta: My little lightening
Padmini: The light of my joy
Devadatta: The flower of my palm....
Padmini: My celestial-bodied Gandharva....
My sun-faced Indra....
Devadutta: My Queen of Indra’s Court
Padmini: (Caressing his shoulders). Come let’s go quickly. Where the earth is soft and
the green grass plays the swing. (Three Plays, 111).
Padmini has now a strong hold on Kapila’s body in Devadatta and is quite radiant with self-
fulfillment and has escaped from the institutional curbs.
Padmini’s quest for completeness and perfection brings downfall in her personal life and is
alienated. Her performance of ‘Sati’ is a social demand for infidelity in married life. She tries
to revolt against socio-cultural forces which engulfed her. These forces alienated her from the

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worldly life she does not wish to compromise with and finally she finds relief in death. The
passionate Padmini cherishes the Dionysian aspect of life by challenging the moral codes of
the society, but the socio-cultural aspects are the apollonian which assert themselves and
subdue the Dionysian in our socio-cultural life. Raykar views, “Padmini’s predicament is the
predicament of a modern, emancipated woman in our society who is torn between two
polarities.”11
All women characters in Karnad’s plays have immortalized their places in the literary world
and the students of literature, particularly of drama and the theatre goers, would not certainly
forget them. These women have set a new standard of their class who aspire for new society,
new culture and new world where sex discrimination is underplayed and equality dwells
among the members of the society, in true sense of the term. Karnad has established an
example in the development of his female protagonist through gender discourse and many
new and young dramatists would find a fountain of inspiration in his dramatic creation.

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Works Cited:
Raykar, S. Shubhangi. “The Development of Karnad as a Dramatist: Hayavadana.” The Plays
of Girish Karnad: Critical Perspective, Ed. Jaydipsinh Dodiya. New Delhi: Prestige Books,
1999, p.177.
Karnad, Girish. Three Plays. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006. All the quotations
are taken from this edition in the text.
Rayker, S. Shubhangi. “The Development of Karnad as a Dramatist: Hayavadana.” The Plays
of Girish karnad: Critical Perspective, Ed. Jaydipsinh Dodiya. New Delhi: Prestige Books,
1999, p.177.
Sharma, K.K. Feminism and Literature: New Points of View. New Delh: K.K. Publications,
1996, p.07.
Raykar, Shubhangi. “The Development of Girish Karnad as a Dramatist: Hayavadana.” The
Plays of Girish Karnad: Critical Perspectives. Ed. Jayadipsinh Dodiya. New Delhi: Prestige
Books, 1999, p.178.
Chari, A. Jaganamohana. “Hayavadana and Naga-Mandala: A Study in Postcolonial
Dialectics.” The Plays of Girish Karnad: Critical Perspectives. Ed. Jayadipsinh Dodiya. New
Delhi: Prestige Books, 1999, p.234.
Dharwadker, Aparna Bhargava. “Introduction.” Collected Plays, Volume One. New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 2005 p.(xxviii).
Naik, M.K. “From the Horses Mouth: A Study of Hayavadna.” Girish Karnad's Plays:
Performance and Critical Perspectives. Ed. Tutun Mukherjee. New Delhi: Pencraft
International, 2008, p.139.
Ibid, p.139.
Mee. Erin. B. “Hayavadana: Model of Complexity” Girish Karnad's Plays: Performance and
Critical Perspectives. Ed. Tutun Mukherjee.New Delhi: Pencraft International, 2008, p.151.
Raykar, S. Shubhangi. “The Development of Karnad as a Dramatist: Hayavadana.” The Plays
of Girish Karnad: Critical Perspective, Ed. Jaydipsinh Dodiya. New Delhi: Prestige Book,
1999, p.177.

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 1

Hayavadana: A Critical Appraisal

Subhendu Sarkar

The Theme

Hayavadana (1971), a play Girish Karnad (1938-2019) wrote combining a mythical story
found in the Sanskrit Vetala Panchavimsati which forms a part of Somadeva’s
Kathasaritasagara and Thomas Mann’s reworking of the tale in his short story, ‘The
Transposed Heads’, depicts the duality between the mind and body, between desire and
reason, between friendship and love. However, the central theme of Karnad’s play revolves
round the idea of incompleteness and the human desire to overcome alienation and
become perfect.

Karnad in Hayavadana explores the theme of incompleteness at three levels: divine, animal
and human. The play begins using the tradition of worshipping the mask of Lord Ganesha,
the elephant-headed Hindu god, the harbinger of success and prosperity. But here Ganesha
adds to the theme of incompleteness. Bhagavata, who also plays the role of Sutradhar
(Stage Manager) states:

An elephant’s head on a human body, a broken task and cracked belly―whichever

way you look at him he seems the embodiment of imperfection, of incompleteness.

The theme of alienation and the yearning for completeness is next introduced by bringing in
the grotesque figure of Hayavadana, a man with the head of a horse, who was born as a
result of the marriage of a stallion (a cursed celestial being, a gandharva) and a mortal
woman (a princess of Karnataka). He spends days in melancholy frantically wanting to be a
complete man. Bhagavata advises him to visit the temple of goddess Kali of Mount
Chitrakoot to fulfil his desire. The whole episode of the horse-man forms the sub-plot of the
play Hayavadana echoing the theme of the main plot comprising the events surrounding
Devadatta-Padmini-Kapila only to merge with it at the end. Hayavadana’s dream of
perfection turns into reality but only in an ironical manner. Giving a comical twist to the sub-
plot Karnad makes him a complete horse!

The Devadatta-Padmini-Kapila plot hinges on imperfection and the subsequent yearning for
completeness. It also focuses on the dialectics between the mind and body, the reality and
expectation and the reason and passion. Devadatta, a learned Brahmin scholar, with a fair
and tender body, shares a strong bond of friendship with Kapila, an ironsmith’s son having a
dark muscular body. Bhagavata says these friends from Dharmapura have ‘one mind, one
heart’ and people remember them as Lava and Kusha, Rama and Lakshmana, Krishna and
Balarama. But the element of tension is introduced with the arrival of Padmini, a beautiful
lady Devadatta falls in love with. Though Kapila plays the role of a matchmaker and
 2

Devadatta eventually is married to Padmini, he is too attracted by her from the beginning.
The plot thickens when Padmini, the wife of Devadatta, reciprocates to the temptations and
longs for Kapila’s body. In fact, it is through Padmini that Karnad depicts in Hayavadana the
perennial human craving for perfection, to wish for the union of an intelligent mind and a
strong body― a unity of Apollonian and Dionysian principles. Her desire is fulfilled, at least
for a while, after Devadatta and Kapila cut off their heads at the temple of Kali. Following
the propitious order of the comical goddess Kali, Padmini, by mistake, swaps the heads
before bringing them alive. Of course, she gets the best of both the worlds― her husband
Devadatta now has a brilliant mind combined with an equally able body. This transposing of
heads, however, becomes a source of discomfort for both Devadatta and Kapila. Their ‘new’
heads struggle with the demands of their ‘old’ bodies and gradually adapt their bodies to
the requirement of the heads. Thus Devadatta, fulfilling the duties of a Brahmin scholar,
loses the manly smell and vigour of his body while Kapila, living in the forest, regains a
strong body for his survival. Padmini, the mother of a son, notices the changes in
Devadatta’s body and craves for the body of Kapila in her dreams (made known to us by the
two ‘talking’ dolls).

The renewed search for completeness is symbolised by Padmini’s journey to Kapila’s hut in
the forest with her son. But the arrival of Devadatta and the ensuing fight (not due to
hatred) between the friends resulting in their death offers a resolution to the complex play.
Padmini finally throws herself into fire, following the practice of sati, considering herself the
wife of both Devadatta and Kapila. She hopes that the unrealised dream of hers will be
fulfilled through death. Padmini’s decision gets the approval of the playwright through the
song of the Female Chorus:

Why should love stick to the sap of a single body? When the stem is drunk with the
thick yearning of the many-petalled, many flowered lantana, why should it be tied
down to the relation of a single flower?

A head for each breast. A pupil for each eye. A side for each arm. I have neither
regret nor shame. The blood pours into the earth and a song branches out in the sky.

Padmini’s desire for perfection is also reflected in her desire to bring up her son (who
remains nameless throughout) giving him both physical and intellectual training. She
implores Bhagavata to look after her son’s education:

My son is sleeping in the hut. Take him under your care. Give him to the hunters who
live in this forest and tell them it’s Kapila’s son. They loved Kapila and will bring the
child up. Let the child grow up in the forest with the rivers and the trees. When he’s
five take him to the Revered Brahmin Vidyasagara of Dharmapura. Tell him it’s
Devadatta’s son.
 3

In fact, Karnad’s solution to the dualities is dramatically presented through the son who
being the son of Devadatta also has a mole on his shoulder just like Kapila. The child shakes
off sadness at the end, begins to laugh aloud and jubilantly rides the horse (which also
undergoes a complete change). The son represents the unity of opposites― something that
had been sought by all the three main characters of the play. Hayavadana ends as all
comedies end― by solving the problems presented in the play, emphasizing human
endeavour and envisaging a happy and prosperous future.

Hayavadana besides exploring the psychological longing for a combination of sound mind
and body also delves deep into the social segregation of the humans. Devadatta, a Brahmin,
represents the privileged section of the society (a higher-caste member in the traditional
Indian varna system) while Kapila comes from the working population (a lower-caste
member). The dictum that the head is superior to the body is nothing but the rationale
behind maintaining the hierarchical structure of the society intact. Karnad seems to have
upheld the view till the middle of the play and made Devadatta win by getting Kapila’s body.
Padmini too readily discards Kapila, who, after the transposition of heads, was left with
weak mind and body. In fact, that was where the Sanskrit tale ended. But Karnad went on to
infuse a modern outlook into the story and emphasized the reconciliation of the opposites.
That is why in Hayavadana the claims of the body have been given equal importance;
Devadatta and Kapila’s newly acquired bodies undergo transformation in the second half of
the play. The synthesis that Karnad advocates to the dialectical situation is evident in the
figure of Padmini’s son who has combined characteristics of both the intellectual and the
working classes. It is this holistic worldview that Karnad thinks is the foundation of a
prosperous society.

Another important aspect of Hayavadana is Karnad’s portraiture of Padmini. She appears

from the beginning to be outspoken and remains undaunted by the traditional social mores.
Therefore, she does not reveal qualms in exhibiting her bodily attraction towards Kapila. But
her desire for the union of two seemingly incompatible principles must be read symbolically.
She is not an adulteress; she voluntarily sacrifices herself for the sake of love for both
Devadatta and Kapila. Karnad does not forget to remind his audience/ readers about
Draupadi in this context.

DEVADATTA: What a good mix― No more tricks.

(They laugh.)

Tell me one thing. Do you really love Padmini?

KAPILA: Yes.

DEVADATTA: So do I.

KAPILA: I know.
 4

(Silence.)

Devadatta, couldn’t we all three live together― like the Pandavas and Draupadi?

The death of Devadatta, Kapila and Padmini was a dramatic necessity. Karnad has found a
much better way to suggest the marriage of opposites through the child who represents the
seed of a radically different future. The powerful image of the child riding the horse into the
future aptly ends Karnad’s optimistic play.

The Form

Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana is a significant contribution to the new Indian drama that was
gradually trying to create, since the 1960s, an idiom conspicuously different from the form
imported largely from the West. In an effort to build up a new theatre the playwrights
ransacked the indigenous heritage and took whatever they thought noteworthy for the
modern stage. Thus the elements of both Sanskrit and the traditional folk theatre found
ways into the works of the modern Indian playwrights. As a result, the new Indian theatre
began to present, more often than not, a modern content clothed in a traditional form.

Hayavadana uses elements from both Sanskrit and the indigenous folk theatre of Karnataka,
Yakshagana. Besides opening and closing with the ritual of Ganesh vandana and using
minimal stage properties, the play which is itself based on an Indian legend, is replete with
the use of mime, song, stylised movement, musicians on the stage, masks and half-curtain.
The appearance of Bhagavata as both the stage manager and a character in the plot as well
as the talking dolls help Karnad to go beyond the limitations imposed by the naturalistic
theatre. The role of the talking dolls (reminiscent of the art form of puppetry) and the
Female Chorus perform a number of actions: besides helping the reader/ audience with the
missing links, commentary on action and to understand the passage of time, they lay bare
the innermost thoughts of Padmini and inform about the gradual change in Devadatta’s
body. Further, the reference to the Ujjain fair gives the play an indigenous colour.

Another aspect that Karnad borrowed from the pool of folklore is the depiction of the
supernatural in the events of the human world. The goddess Kali in Hayavadana is far from
awe-inspiring; in fact, she is like most other divine figures of folk theatre― a comic figure.
She yawns, feels sleepy, is very casual and matter-of-fact in her approach, and exhibits
human qualities like jealousy, particularly in respect of god Rudra.

Hayavadana, in the last analysis, is a play with a modern outlook that freely uses the
elements of traditional theatre. Karnad, like many of his contemporaries, tried and
succeeded to create a distinctive Indian theatre based on the synthesis of the best elements
culled from both the Western and the Eastern worlds.
Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana=Critical Analysis/Basic Theme=

Girish Karnad is a gifted writer, actor and director of films. He is the well-known author of the
Kannada plays entitled Tughlaq and Yayati. Now he has translated into English his own work
Hayavadana. It is mainly based on the famous Katha Sarit Sagara tale that Thomas Mann
made use of, for his short but great novel The Transposed Heads. In all his three
plays-whether the theme is historical or mythical or legendary- Karnad’s approach is
modern. He wonderfully brings into play the conventions and motifs of folk-art like masks
and curtains in order to project a world of intensities, uncertainties and unpredictable
denouements.

Devadatta and Kapila are close friends. The former is an intellectual companion, while the
latter is of a sensual type. Devedatta is already married to a lady named Padmini. But later
Kapila falls in love with her. The two friends, so as to get over the situation, decide to kill
themselves. They perform the act. Padmini transposes the heads, while rejoining the
severed limbs. It naturally results in confusion of identities and several complications arise
from it. It drives them to fight a duel and they kill themselves again. Then Padmini ascends
their funeral pyre and performs Sati (Dying along with the husband). It is a highly tantalizing
story, even without the psychological dimension and Karnad very ably makes the most of it.

Hayavadana is one of Karnad’s most remarkable works. The plot of Hayavadana comes
from ‘Kantha Sarit Sagara‘ an ancient compilation of stories in Sanskrit. The central event in
the play- the story of Devadatta and Kapila is based on the tale from the “Betal
Panchabinsati.” But he has borrowed it through Thomas Mann’s retelling of the story in ‘The
Transposed Heads.’

The Sanskrit tale told by a ghost to an adventurous king gains a further mock-heroic
dimension in Mann’s version. The original story poses a moral problem, whereas Mann uses
it to ridicule the mechanical notion of life which differentiates between body and soul. He
ridicules the philosophy which holds the head superior to the body.

The human body, Mann argues is a device for the completion of human destiny. Even the
transposition of heads did not literate the protagonists from the physiological limits imposed
by nature. Karnad’s poses a different problem, that of human identity in world of tangled
relationships. When the play opens, Devadatta and Kapila are the closer of friend’s one
mind, one heart as Bhagavata describes them. Devadatta is a man of intellect, Kapila a man
of the body. Their relations get complicated when Devadatta marries Padmini.

Kapila falls in love with Padmini and she too starts drifting towards him. The friends kill
themselves in a scene, hilariously comic, but at the same time, full of dramatic connotations
Padmini transposes their heads, giving Devadatta Kapila’s body and Kapila Devadatta’s. As
a result Padmini gets the desired ‘Man.’ Kali understood each individuals moral fibre and
was indifferent than the usual stereotypical portrayal of God and Goddesses.
The result is a confusion of identities which reveals the ambiguous nature of human
personality. Initially Devadattaactually the head of Devadatta on kapila’s body-behaves
differently from what he was before. But slowly he changes to his former self. So does
Kapila, faster than Devadatta. But there is a difference. Devadatta stops reading texts, does
not write poetry, while Kapila is haunted by the memories in Devadatta’s body.

Padmini, after the exchange of heads, had felt that she had the best of both the man, gets
slowly disappointed of the three, only she has the capacity for complete experience. She
understands, but cannot control the circumstances in which she is placed. Her situation is
beautifully summed up by the image of river and the scare-crow in the choric songs.

The sword fight that leaves both the friends dead brings to baffling story to end. The death of
three protagonists was not portrayed tragically… the death only to emphasise the logic
behind absurdity of the situation.

The sub-plot of Hayavadana— the horse-man, deepens the significance of the main theme
of incompleteness, by looking at it from different perspective. The horseman’s search for
completeness ends comically with his becoming a complete horse. The animal body
triumphs over what is considered the best in man, the ‘Utta Maga’, the human head’s
probably to make a point, Karnad names the play ‘HAYAVADANA’ human’s search for
completeness.