CHAPTER 4 Hayavadana: Themes

and Techniques

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Girish Karnad is one of the notable playwrights of the contemporary Indian stage. He

has penned twelve plays, including those not translated into English; each play is

unique in itself for its experimentation and techniques. His plays have been grand

success with the readers, audience and critics as well.

Hayavadana (1971) is the third creative expression in chronology of Girish Karnad. It

was first staged in English by the Madras Players at the Museum Theatre, Madras on

7 Dec. 1972 and directed by Lakshmi Krishnamurthy and Yamuna Prabhu and music

is composed by B.V. Karanth. The playwright has taken the idea from a tale found in

Somdeva’s Katha Saritsagar, a collection of stories in Sanskrit dating from the

eleventh century. Karnad also draws upon the further development of the story from

Thomas Mann’s ‘The Transposed Heads’. He borrows from both the sources but

recreates the story by using his extraordinary Esemplastic Imagination, adding the

episode of Hayavadana, the man who has a horse’s head, but of which he wants to get

rid of himself in order to attain “completeness” as a man.

Before the study of themes and techniques of the play, it would be better to study the

sources of the play. As mentioned above, the story of Hayavadana comes partially

from Thomas Mann’s story titled Transposed Heads, which is based on one of the

versions of the story in Vetal Panchavinshati.

It is worthwhile to mention the words of Krishna Gandhi about the theme of the play:

The theme of the play is an old one…man’s earning for completeness,

for perfection. It is this yearning which makes people restless in their

ordinary existence, and makes them reach out for extra-ordinary

things….But the idea of perfection itself is ambiguous (qtd. in

Joshipura 200).

4

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The out-line story of ‘Transposed Heads’ is: Shridaman, a Brahmin by birth but

Vaishya by profession, and Nanda, a cowherd and blacksmith, are close friends.

Shridaman falls in love with Sita whom he happens to see when the two friends are

travelling together. Nanda laughs at the idea but agrees to act as a messenger of his

friend. Sita accepts the proposal and marries Shridaman.

After some time while Shridaman, Nanda and Sita are travelling together in a cart to a

house of Sita’s parents they lose track, come across a temple of Kali and take a halt.

Shridaman visits the temple alone and, overcome by an incredible urge, offers himself

to the Goddess as a sacrifice. Nanda goes in search of his friend, finds what has

happened and afraid of the charge that he killed his friend because he was in love with

Sita and he does not want to live without his friend, kills himself. Sita realizes what

has happened and prepares to hang herself. The Goddess Durga appears in front of her

and chides her for the act and grants life to the two dead bodies. Here, Goddess

blesses her to set the heads on their dead bodies to make them alive. Sita, in her

excitement fixes the heads on wrong bodies.

Now the problem is: Who is her husband? Then, Sita seeks suggestion of a saint

Kamdaman, who advises in favour of Shridaman’s head. Since Shridaman’s head

begins to control Nanda’s body and the body becomes refined Sita begins to pine for

Nanda, so much so that she sets out to meet him carrying Andhak, her baby boy with

her. After a strenuous journey, she finds him at a pleasant spot in the forest. They

spend the day and night in heavenly bliss. Next morning, Shridaman arrives on the

scene. He suggests that they should kill each other in a combat and that Sita should

perform sati. Sita thinks if she lives the life of a widow, Andhak’s future will be

doomed but if she performs sati, Andhak will be a sati’s son and his social image will

improve.

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Therefore, she gives her consent and burns herself in the funeral pyre of her two

husbands. In his play, Thomas Mann presents the existential condition of his

characters and their quest for completeness. His story reveals that the world is not

made such that spirit is fated to love only spirit and beauty only beauty. Indeed, the

very contrast between the two points out, with clarity at once intellectual and

beautiful, that the world’s goal is to get harmony between wisdom and beauty. It is a

kind of bliss that is no longer divided, but is whole and consummate. The tale of ours

is but an illustration of failures and false starts that attend the efforts to reach the goal.

The story in the Vetal Panchavinshati and Somveda’s Bhritkathasaritsagar are

basically the same, except for a new alterations and changes in the names and in the

references to the names of the castes of characters. As per the story, Prince Dhavala

marries Madan Sundari, the daughter of a king Suddhapata, through the favour of

Goddess Gauri, in a temple in the city of Shobhavati. Then one day Svetapata,

Suddhapata’s son, proceeds towards his country along with his sister and her husband.

On the way, he comes across another temple of Goddess Gauri. Dhavala went into

the temple to pay homage to the goddess. Through some irresistible urge, he cuts off

his head with a sword, and presents it to the goddess. As Dhavala does not come even

after waiting for some time, Svetapata goes inside. When he finds out what Dhavala

has done, he also cuts off his own head and offers it to the goddess.

Then Madan Sundari, realizing that her husband and her brother have been away for a

long time, goes into the temple and sees their dead bodies lying before the goddess

and in great grief, she also think to offer her own head to Goddess Durga as she

wishes to live no longer because of the death of her husband and brother. Just then,

the Goddess Durga appeared before her prevents her from doing so and offeres what

she wants. Madan Sundari, naturally, requests the goddess to restore her husband’s

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and brother’s life. The Goddess asks her to set their heads on their shoulders. But

Madan Sundari in a state of extreme happiness of getting a great blessing from the

Goddess Gauri, places her husband’s head on her brother’s body and vice versa.

When they come back to life, Madan Sundari realizes her mistake. Vetala’s question

is who Madan Sundari’s husband is? The king answers, Of course, the person with

Dhaval’s head on his shoulder.

However, one can easily observe that the plot of the play Hayavadana extends much

farther from the point where the story of Vetal gets its culmination. How would the

woman take it if it really happens and would it ultimately solve the problem for her?

In all his plays, Karnad takes his themes from the ancient myths and stories and

further he develops then according to his own imagination. No doubt, he has taken his

themes from the folk stories but his plays take turn from the original stories. This

further development is the play of the artist’s imagination and it challenges the glib

solutions offered in the original stories.

Girish Karnad focuses on the complexity of human relationship. Karnad skillfully

mirrors the search for the identity through his characters. One can notice: “subtle and

constant juxtaposition of the past and present” which has been a “common feature of

Karnad’s dramatic art” (Dhanavel 106). Karnad’s Hayavadana is a bold and

successful experiment on the folk theme. In the words of a famous critic M. K. Naik,

Karnad’s handling of the sources of his plots makes it abundantly clear

that his interpretation of the ancient Indian story not only differs

substantially from his originals but also indicates a bold attempt at

investigating an old legend with new meaning. (135)

He beautifully exploits the conventions and motifs of folk tales and folk theatre.

Masks, curtains, dolls and the story within the story have been deftly employed to

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create a bizarre world. The play is divided into two acts. In the opening scene the

entire stage is empty except a chair and a table, at which the Bhagvata and the

musicians sit. The mask of Lord Ganesha is kept on the chair. The Bhagvata sings

verses in his praise:

O Elephant-headed Herembha

whose flag is victory,

and who shines like thousand suns.

O husband of Riddhi and Siddhi,

seated on a mouse and decorated with a snake.

O single-tusked destroyer of incompleteness.

We pay homage to you and start our play (Karnad I.1).

The playwright has taken this extra ordinary technique of Ganesh vandana from

Hindu tradition, where Shri Ganesh is always worshipped in the beginning of every

auspicious occasion. The great epic poet John Milton also used this technique of

invocation to God and Muses in his epic the Paradise Lost. But such type of practice

cannot be observed in English drama. Therefore, Karnad follows tradition of Ganesh

Vandana in this play which is purely Indian.

The Bhagavata evokes Lord Ganesha as a destroyer of obstacles and problems to

shower his blessings for the success of the play. Karnad creates an atmosphere of

absurdity and contradiction in the very beginning when the narrator, Bhagavata who

acts as a chorus, worships the elephant headed God Ganesha who combines

contradictions in his personality.

An elephant’s head on human body, a broken tusk and a cracked belly-

whichever way you look at him, he seems the embodiment of

imperfection of incompleteness. How indeed can one fathom the

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mystery that is very ‘Vakratunda Mahakaya’, with his crooked face and

distorted body, is the Lord and Master of Success and Perfection. Could

it be that this image of Purity and Holiness, this Mangalmoorty, intends

to signify by his very appearance that the completeness of God is

something no poor mortal can comprehend? ( Karnad I.1).

Bhagavata begins to introduce the situation, place, characters and actions. The story

within the story starts when the Bhagavata takes the reader to the city of Dharampura,

ruled by king Dharmashela. He was the famous and rightful king. His fame had

reached everywhere. There lived two close friends Kapila and Devadatta. Their

friendship is an example for others to emulate. As the playwright states in the play

Hayavadana:

The world sees these two young men wandering down the streets of

Dharampura, hand in hand and remembers Lava and Kasha, Ram and

Laxaman, Krishna and Balaram. The two friends there were-one mind,

one heart (Karnad I.2).

Devadatta is the only son of a learned and wise Brahmin Vidyasagar. He is described

as comely in appearance, fair in colour and unrivalled in intelligence. He is credited

with defeating the pedantic intellectuals of the kingdom in debates on logic and love,

and abiding the greatest poets of the world with his poetry and wit. Thus, Devadatta

represents the acme of intellect. Another one Kapila, is the only son of an iron-smith

Lohita, who was an important functionary in king’s army. Kapila is dark and plain to

look at, having no equals in strength and in physical skills. He therefore, represents

the ultimate in physical prowess. Despite belonging to different background the two

pull together very well.

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All of a sudden, a cry is heard off the stage and an actor rushes to the Bhagavata in a

nervous and terrified scared state. After a little admonishment, he reveals that he had

seen a strange creature, Hayavadana, horse headed man who speaks human language.

The Bhagavata is astonished and believes him only when he himself sees the strange

creature. Bhagavata feels that Hayavadana is playing some tricks and warns him of

his pranks in front of the esteemed audience, who may not appreciate it. He asks him

(Hayavadana) to throw the mask of the horse away and he (Bhagavata) himself, and

the actor tries to pull it off his head but fails in doing so. When the truth is revealed

that it is a real horse-head, the Bhagavata asks Hayavadana his name and identity and

several other questions, such as whether it is a curse of a Rishi or if he had desecrated

a Punyasthala or if he had insulted a Pativrata. Then, Hayavadana tells his pathetic

story.

Hayavadana says that it was his fate to be born with the head of a horse. His mother

was a Karnataka Princess who fell in love with the stallion of a prince, who had come

to marry her. After fifteen years of happy life, one morning the horse disappeared and

in its place stood a celestial being, gandharva. He was cursed by Kubera, god of

wealth to be born as a horse for his misbehavior, and after fifteen years he had

become his original self again. He asked her to accompany him to his heavenly abode,

which she denied. He cursed her to become a mare and he went off. His mother ran

away happily and he was left behind. To use the animals as human beings has been a

long tradition in Indian literature. It may be termed as ‘personification of objects’.

Perhaps, it might be to develop the objectivity and to create interest in common

readers. Girish Karnad seems a chain in this series.

There are five examples of split personalities have been exhibited in this play, who is

suffering from hunger of integration. Hayavadana’s plight has already been described;

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the two friends, the woman and her son in the Transposed Heads plot have been given

new names which carry their own symbolic suggestions at once similar to and

different from those in Mann’s story. Shridaman is called Devadatta (literally a God

given), the only son of learned Brahmin Vidyasagar, and the ocean of learning.

Shridaman’s friend Nanda becomes Kapila, the only son of iron smith Lohita, iron.

The reverberations of meaning in the name ‘Kapila’ are interesting. The word Kapila

means variously tawny, reddish, it is synonymous with ‘Lohita’ which also means

blood. In the play Devadatta’s name stresses his primacy in the social hierarchy but

also indicates, ironically, his failure to secure happiness on God’s earth. Hence, the

name of Kapila’s father suggests ‘strength’ and Kapila’s own, ‘fire’. The wife called

Sita by Mann becomes Padmini in the play. The name Padmini means ‘lotus’ which is

taken to be the abode of Lakshmi, the Goddess of prosperity and as well as the

paradigm of feminine beauty made well known by Vatsyanan’s Kamasutra. Mann

gave the name Samadhi to Andhaka for the child in his novel Transposed Heads but

Karnad in Hayavadana has no name for the child. Mann has ridiculed the severe

separation of head from limb. In the introduction of the play Hayavadana Kirtinath

Kurtkoti comments.

Mann uses it to ridicule the mechanical conception 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 fit instrument for the fulfillment of human destiny. Even

the transposition of heads will not liberate the protagonists from the

psychological limits imposed by nature (V).

When Hayavadana was left by his mother in an incomplete state, he was neither in the

form of man nor an animal. As Hayavadana’s father (a celestial being) asked his

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mother to accompany him in heavenly abode, she refuses to go with him as she

wanted him in the form of horse, consequently Hayavadana’s father cursed her to be a

horse, she was pregnant at that time, therefore she gives birth to a unique child who is

having horse’s mouth and man’s body. Now, the child has divine elements as his

father is Gandharva and a human element, as his mother was human being and also

having an animal element as his mother converts into a mare. Hayavadana recalls the

concept of Narsingh Avtar (incarnation) of God Vishnu, the same concept was used

by W.B. Yeats in his epoch making poem “Second Coming”. But there is a big

contrast between these two concepts and that of Hayavadana. As the God Narsingh

and the imagination of Second Coming is gigantic, aggressive, and offensive, while

Hayavadana seems weak and meek creature who cannot perform any action, only

expecting help from heavenly bliss.

Since his birth, Hayavadana has always been facing an identity crisis. He is still in

search of completeness and his society. His personal life has been blameless. He has

taken: “Interest in the social life of the Nation-Civics, Politics, Patriotism,

Nationalism, Indianization, and the Socialist Pattern of Society” (Karnad I.9).He has

tried everything. But still he is forced to ask the Bhagavata “But where’s my society?

Where? You must help me to become a complete man” (Karnad I.9). Hayavadana

asked Bhagavata what he should do to get rid of horse’s head and to become a

complete personality to enjoy the social status. In search of his completeness, he has

been to several places of pilgrimage and consulted numberless fakirs and saints. But

all this has been a meaningless pursuit. When the Bhagavata and Actor ask him

whether he has visited Banaras and Rameshwar, Hayavadana reveals:

Banaras, Rameshwar, Gokarn, Haridwar, Gaya, Kedarnath- not only

those but the Dargah of Khwaja Yusuf Baba, the Grotto of Our Virgin

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Mary-I’ve tried them all. Magician, mendicants, maharishis, fakirs,

saints and sadhus ,sadhus with short hair, sadhus with beards- sadhus

in saffron, sadhus in altogether-hanging singing, rotating, gyrating on

the spikes, in the air, under water, under the ground. I have covered

them all (Karnad I.9)

After losing hopes from every corner, Hayavadana is at last advised by the Bhagavata

to try the Kali of Mount Chitrakoot, as she is ever awake to the call of her devotees.

Therefore, Bhagavata sent his Actor to accompany Hayavadana to there and blessed

them by saying: “May you become successful in search for completeness” (Karnad

I.11). Later on in the last phase of the play Hayavadana appears again on the stage,

when he is asked about his experience at the temple of Kali, Hayavadana says to the

Bhagavata:

Ah! That’s long story I went there, picked up a sword which was lying

around- very unsafe, I tell you- put it on my neck and said: ‘Mother of

all Nature, if you don’t help me I’ll chop off my head!(Karnad II.68).

Then

The Goddess appeared. Very prompt. But looked rather put out. She

said- rather peevishly, I thought, why don’t you people go somewhere

else if you want to chop off your stupid heads? Why do you have to

come to me? I fell at her feet and said, ‘Mother make me complete’.

She said. ‘So be it’ and disappeared-even before I could say ‘Make me

a complete man’! I became a horse (Karnad II.68).

Thus, in search of completeness Hayavadana becomes “a complete horse” instead of a

complete man. However, he still retains the human voice which to him is “the cursed

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human voice” because as long as this human voice is with him, he cannot call himself

complete. Now he is worried to get rid of his partial human qualities.

Hayavadana in fact, is a subplot of the play. Hayavadana i.e. the horseman

strengthens the main plot of the play by supporting the main theme of incompleteness

and treating it on a different plane. Hence, the theme of Hayavadana is the problem of

physical deformity caused by the alienation of the mind (head) and the body, which is

suggested by the reference to incompleteness and completeness. The horseman refers

to a man with horse’s head or a horse with man’s body, both the ways it is a symbol

of physical deformity and incompleteness. Along with human beings this horse’s man

is also in search of his identity and to get rid of its physical incompleteness either by

changing into a human being completely or to be a horse. Commenting on

Hayavadana’s search, Kirtinath Kurtkoti in his Introduction to the play, aptly remarks:

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 Uttamanga, the human head! (VI).

Alienation is one of the important themes of Karnad. Hayavadana beautifully presents

the problem of alienation i.e., the difference between body and the mind. When there

is a split between them, the experiences of the body do not reach the mind and the

feeling of the mind do not reach, influence or affect the body that causes the

alienation which is termed as the Apollonian ego, the mind and the body fail to work

in unification. On the other hand, Dionysian ego is that unified/ undivided state of the

mind where the body and the mind work together and there is no split between them.

Men in the olden age enjoyed a unity of mind and the body as they lived in

consonance with nature and the life was neither so modern, complex nor so frenzied.

As the civilization progressed through the ages the body and the mind came to be

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alienated and divided. The human sufferings are attributed to this only. The friendship

between the two friends provides psychoanalysis between Devadatta’s Apollonian

order and knowledge, and Kapila’s Dionysian impulse and physique. According to

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis personality is made-up of three parts; the Id, the Ego

and the Super Ego. It can be explained by the following diagram

Fig. 9

Human behaviour is motivated by the id which consists of Eros i.e. instinctual drive

which always seeks gratification irrespective of external reality and cultural values

this is called pleasure principle. The ego perceives and responds to external reality

which is called reality principle. It, being the leader, tries to satisfy the id and the

super ego within the limits of external reality. The super ego irrespective of external

reality and biological impulse (the id) contains ideals, values and morals and urges the

ego to lead an ideal life. When the ego wants to be ideal under the pressure of super

ego, the mind starts functioning independent of the body. This naturally leads to a

split between the mind and the body. Consequently, they become strangers to each

other. In this phenomenon the experiences of the body do not reach the mind, and the

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feelings of the mind do not spread through the body. The ego which causes this self

alienation is called Apollonian ego in which the soul leaves the body. On the other

hand when the ego wants to be natural or really human and when the super ego wants

to be natural or really human and when the super ego accepts the biological reality

(the id), the mind and the body work together. There is perfect harmony between

them. The mind feels the bodily experiences and the body rocks with the feelings of

the mind. The playwright demonstrates regarding body and brain characteristic

development of his protagonist:

Fig. 10

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Draupadi’s desire for a perfect man (Poorn Purush) is perhaps the basis of Padmini’s

aspiration of getting a complete man. According to Karnad Padmini is attracted

towards both Kapila and Devadatta due to their body and brain.

But as Draupadi had to marry five persons to accumulate all the qualities, Padmini

had also to mingle body and brain to make a Poorn Purush. Karnad’s technique here is

to transpose wise head (Brain) on a strong body (Kapila) to make a complete man.

But the conclusion is not what comes by a mathematical formula. It is against Nature

to do so. When Devadatta’s intelligent head is attached with Kapila’s strong body, the

body becomes weaker simultaneously.

Karnad seems to talk about the integrated development of the personality; and in the

integrated development, body is as important as the mind. Therefore, the call of the

mind should not be ignored. It is true that mind gradually subdues. But this is not a

symptom of a complete personality. Padmini’s aspiration for ‘fabulous body, fabulous

brain’ is unlike the aspiration of Hayavadana’s mother, who rejected handsome

suitors from every land and was enchanted by the White Stallion of the Prince of

Arabia. Horse is an age long symbol of masculinity and sex, so the choice of the

bestial aspect is the choice of the Celestial one. Hayavadana’s own statement deserves

mention:

No one could dissuade her. So ultimately she was married off to the

white stallion. She lived with him for fifteen years. One morning she

wakes up-and no horse! In its place stood a beautiful Celestial Being, a

Gandharva. Apparently this celestial being cursed by the God Kubera to

be born a horse for some act of misbehavior. After fifteen years of

human love he had become his original self again (Karnad I.8).

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Hayavadana’s mother refuses to go to heavenly abode with her Gandharva husband. It

seems that she is blessed in her bestial self only. Since, she fails to recognize the

divine aspect of relationship hence her life turns in to a tragedy; and the tragedy is to

be carried not only by her but by the next generation also, that is Hayavadana carries

the cause of incompleteness. Padmini’s son also seems to carry this curse of

incompleteness, but reorganization of the imperfection and the fact that the perfection

could be attained only with the realization of the other, seems the ultimate finding.

The up to datedness of the play lies in this fact. In the closing scene, Hayavadana is

complete horse but his completion is not by some divine boon but by Padmini’s son

and Bhagavata. Perfection could be attained in the acceptance of reality as truth.

Hayavadana’s own statement is quotable here:

To be honest, Mr. Bhagavata Sir, I have my doubts about this theory. I

believe-in fact I may go so far as to say I firmly believe –that it is this

sort of sentimentality, which has been the bane of our literature and

national life. It has kept us from accepting reality and encouraged

escapism. Still, if you say so, I won’t argue come, child, let’s have

another song (Karnad II.70).

As far as Padmini’s sense of completion is concerned, she could not attain it within a

life. She attains it with the cost of her life. But even in her preference to sati lies a

bleak hint of pathetic humour. Padmini belongs to a family of leading merchant of

Pavanveethi of Dharampura. Though in the play she enjoys commanding position, she

is close to the spirit of Cleopatra of Shakespeare, succumbs to Dionysian tendency

and indulges into cuckoldry. She camouflages’ love of Devadatta, his poetry gets new

charm and vitality. She is so fascinating then Devadatta finds her. “Beyond my

wildest dreams” (I.14).And swears: “If I ever get her as my wife, I will sacrifice my

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two arms to the Goddess Kali, I’ll sacrifice my head to lord Rudra…” (Karnad I.14).

Even Kapila finds “Yakshini, Shakuntala, Urvashi, Indumati-all rolled into one”

(Karnad I.16). And warns Devadatta “She is not for the likes of you. What she needs

is a man of steel” (Karnad I.19). While talking to Padmini Kapila rightly says: “I

know what you want, Padmini. Devadatta’s clever head and Kapila’s strong body”

(KarnadI.38).The fact is soon discovered her temptation to Kapila’s muscular body.

She is a real Padmini of Vatasyanana.

Padmini: {Watching him, to herself}.How he clients-like an ape.

Before I could even say ‘yes’, he had taken off his shirt pulled his

dhoti up and swung up the branch. And what an ethereal shape! Such

a board back- like an ocean with muscles rippling across it-and then

that small feminine, waist which looks so helpless. He is like a

Celestial Being reborn as hunter… How his body sways his limbs

curve- its dance almost… no woman could resist him (Karnad I.25,

26).

Devadatta anticipates her inclination towards his friend Kapila but he feels helpless.

Padmini‘s libido for Kapila is the very outcome of her own nature. Padmini is not

satisfied with Devadatta’s physical power. She dreams of a man who is blend of both

power of learning and power of muscles i.e. the blend of Devadatta and Kapila. She

has already got two lovers in thrall, one of whom possesses knowledge and the other

possesses physical strength. Padmini is married to Devdatta but Kapila is her lover.

This happens in the life of so many persons that they can not satisfied with what they

have and through this theme Girish Karnad stressed on the theme of wishing absentee

(unavailable object).This is the common human tendencies to crave for unavailable

objects and Padmini represents this basic instinct of human being as famous Romantic

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Poet P.B. Shelley utters: We look before and after, And pine for what is not (Ode to

Skylark Line 86-87).

But in the temple of Kali; after Devadatta and Kapila’s sacrifice, she is so much

embarrassed to see the melodramatic scene and frightened to sense the sarcasm of

people and forecasting society would blame her for both the deaths. She instantly

decides to kill herself, at this Goddess Kali appears and blesses her both the lives by

putting their heads on their concerned shoulders. Unfortunately the heads are

exchanged and this phenomenon arouses her suppressed ambition to get a complete

man as a husband. Although, transposition, no doubt, was a thrilling experience to

her, yet she felt she had the best of both the man. “My Devdatta comes like a bride

groom with the ornament of a new body… It’s my duty to go with Devdatta. But

remember I’m going with your [Kapila’s] body” (Karnad II.41).

Now Padmini the leading character of the play can be reinterpreted on the canons of

Mandala Theory. On this specific Hindu originated theory Karnad’s leading

characters, Yayati and Tughlaq have been dealt with. On being interpreted on this

theory, certain specific characteristics come out, which become the cause of critical

situation.

Padmini also demonstrates some desires which later become her Hamartia (Tragic

Fall). Mandala Theory says about two aspects of human life, divine and physical.

Fig. 11

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Here, circles are indicative of divine aspects and rectangles are expressing the

physical aspects of the world. Like other protagonist of Karnad, Padmini also may be

delineated “Dim Circles and Sharp Rectangles”. In fact, her craving for a complete

man i.e. ‘Fabulous brain and fabulous body’ brings predicament for her. She was

gifted with fabulous brain in the form of Devadatta by Lot. She has to satisfy with

this to avoid her present plight. Since there are some set norms of the society which

has to be followed by every member of the society, if it is violated there will be a

chaos and anarchy in the social system. But on the contrary, her ambition exhorted

her to get the fabulous body with fabulous brain. She violated the norms of the

society by putting Devadatta’s head on Kapila’s body and vice-versa. Not only, she

confined herself to this moment but her extra ordinary ambition i.e. Libido provoked

her to meet Kapila for satisfying her sexual gratification. Karnad tried to present her

as the puppet of her physical appetite. As throughout her characteristic development,

she seems to be driven by the physical desires and not inclined towards the divine

aspect, hence it can be said that her circles on Mandala Theory would be dimmer for

her and rectangles would be sharper and bold.

Not only Padmini but both the male characters Devdatta and Kapila may also be held

responsible for this situation. A question can be framed why Devadatta did not make

effort to fit for as per the desires and demands of his wife Padmini. As per the martial

oath it was the responsibility of Devadatta to fulfill every kind of requirement and

necessity of his better half, Padmini.

Another Character Kapila is also may be held accountable for this state. Though he

has been delineated less intelligent and learned than Devadatta, even then he has

analyzed and understood the very nature of Padmini. But he did not expose it in front

of his friend. There may be hidden and suppressed desire for the beauty of Padmini in

Pandey 139

his mind. Later due to this latent desire, he exploited Padmini by exhibiting his

physical strength and virility. Like Greek tragedies here in the play Hayavadana

“Stage is littered with dead bodies”. All the three major characters become the victim

of tragedy of characteristic trends.

Express her nymphomaniac ecstasy and lust for sexual gratification. Even Doll I and

Doll II comment on her psychic reactions dreams, fantasies and reveries in which

Kapila figures “climbing a tree,” “dived into a river” symbolically let loose Padmini

‘s suppressed sexual desires and hunger for Kapila. Karnad explores Padmini’s inner

psyche and internal feeling by using two dolls that see into and narrate Padmini’s

dream about Kapila as she sleeps revealing the illicit desire what she feels, but cannot

express because she is a married woman and society will never permit her to do so.

DOLL I. He goes to her….

DOLL II. Very near her….

DOLL II. (In whisper) what’s he going to do now?

DOLL II. (Even more anxious) What? (They watch)

DOLL II. (Baffled) but he is climbing a tree.

DOLL II. (Almost a wail of disappointment) He’s dived into a river!

DOLL I. Is that all he came for (Karnad II.50).

She is happy for some time, since Davadatta can perform the physical feats of Kapila

and can also excel the best of scholars

“A very funny thing happened-there was a wrestling pit and a wrestler

from Gandhara was challenging people to fight him. I don’t know what

got in to me. Before I’d even realized it, I had stripped, put on the parts

given by his assistant and jumped in to the pit… within a couple of

minutes I had pinned him to the ground (Karnad II.42).

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But it is a temporary phase. After sometime, Devadatta loses his interest in sports etc.

He becomes his original self and Kapila also becomes a hunter sort of a man, living in

forest. Padmini again becomes rare and dejected with Devadatta she asks. “What’s

happened to you these days? You sit at home all day. Never go out. You’ve forgotten

all your swimming and sports…” (Karnad II.46).

Soon she is disillusioned and finds herself, like Devadatta, Kapila and Hayavadana a

victim of “Mad dance of incompleteness” (Karnad II.57). Even after the transposition

of heads she can’t resist herself and goes to the forest with her son and enjoys extra

marital sexual relation with Kapila cuckolding her husband for four or five days. In a

duel, Devadatta and Kapila exchange forgiveness and kill each other. Subsequently,

Padmini finds herself nowhere. She suffers from alienation and perplexing situation

erupts. She is abetted to perform sati-for the sake of the glory of her son or she could

not live without Devadatta and Kapila.

On being defeated by Nature and Fate, she decides to take upon herself to mother a

man of her dreams

“Kali”. Mother of all nature you must have your joke even now. Other

woman can die praying that they should get the same husband in all

lives to come. You haven’t left me even that little consolation.”

(Karnad II.63)

She takes her child to Kapila in the forest to tell him that the child is born of his body

and Davadatta’s mind, in a strange turn of situation Devadatta and Kapila come to

fight with each other since they have failed to make a compromise to live like

Pandavas with one Draupati. Padmini is also not willing to live without realizing her

dreams of producing a man gifted with the power of intellect as well as strong

physique. The two friends kill each other and Padmini performs sati. On Padmini’s

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practice of sati, Bhagavata comments .It would not be an exaggeration to say that no

pativrata went the way Padmini did” (Karnad II.63). Female chorus justifies

Padmini‘s misdemeanor. Karnad attempts to give due space to women in human

society where she is marginalized since time immemorial, her plays present evolution

of women and quest for better position in the world .

Padmini knows well that it is sometimes impossible to achieve ideals in one’s life

time. One can at best make a beginning and leaves it to the future to embellish this

world with better class of beings. She leaves her child in the care of Bhagavata, with

specific instructions to let the child live with the hunters in the forest for the first five

years of his life in order to infuse the spirit of sports symbolized by Kapila, and then

send the child to his scholar grandfather, Vidyasagar to get learning from him to

become a scholar like Devadatta.

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 forest with the rivers and trees. When he’s five take

him to the Revered Brahmin Vidyasagara of Dharampura. Tell him it’s

Devadatta’s son (Karnad II.62).

Padmini has to fulfill her dream of completeness of man. It is she alone that has a

dream to realize. The dramatist seems to be of the view that a woman has a vital role

in the evolution of man. In fact, it is the mother that wishes to groom her child into a

perfect personality. Padmini is the ideal of a mother and woman who wants her child

to become a man of the future.

Karnad portrayed the inner feelings of a mother through the character of Padmini

who any how or at any cost wants the name and fame for her child. She knows very

well that if she lives after the demise of her husband Devadatta and friend Kapila,

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people will never give respect and love to her son .They will make fun of his mother’s

status. Hence, keeping in view this point, Padmini makes sati herself on the pyre of

these duos. This is the general tendency of common men that they forget the sins and

immoral deeds after the person’s demise, leaving the ethical parameters of the society

aside.

Karnad has successfully employed the folk drama form in Hayavadana to present the

perennial problem of identity and search for completeness. The incompleteness of

human desire is symbolized by Padmini. As the ideal of all feminine attributes she is

the lotus itself. Rooted to the earth and with the flower turned skyward, she

symbolizes the fundamental nature of the human body; it is torn between the

downward earth and the upward heavens, itself being impressionable. Human body is

made of five universal elements viz. Soil (kshiti), Water (jal), Fire (Pavak), Space

(vyom) and Air (vayu).This mortal body desires to achieve the

heavens(completeness).Padmini is the embodiment of this concept.

The play Hayavadana is also an achievement from the technique point of view. In this

regard of M.K. Naik is quite correct, “Karnad’s technical experiment with an

indigenous dramatic form is a triumph which has opened up fresh lines of fruitful

exploration for the Indian English playwright” (Naik, History of Indian English

Literature 265). He is a progressive dramatist to early Kannada playwrights. Before

him, playwriting was a mere literary exercise to read and write and matter of

discussion for intellectuals. Their dramatic compositions were not fit for the living

stage. Kailasam and Adya Rangacharya rejected this trend but they could not create

an enduring substitute for it the new dramatic movement has given a new lease of life

to Kannada drama. Kirtinath Kurtkoti comments rightly:

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With this new theatre growing around them, new playwrights like

Girish Karnad have been able to bring to drama a firsthand knowledge

of the practical demands of the stage and a better understanding of

dramatic style and technique (Karnad, HYN V).

Girish Karnad is a pioneer in new drama and all his plays are actable on the stage. The

new literary movement throws a lured light on the disparities in our social life. It aims

at reconciling paradoxes and a contrary in life .V.K. Gokak says:

But life absorbs and transcends paradoxes and reconciles contraries. To

see them in their confluence is to be aware of the complexity of the new

movement and also it’s all embracing unity (105-6).

The plays of Girish Karnad sound all the depth of this complexity. They are built on

paradoxes. His second play Tughlaq is structured on juxtapositions -the ideal and the

real; the divine inspiration and the deft intrigue. In Hayavadana too, the paradoxes are

described in the very beginning. How Lord Ganesha embodies the contraries and the

use of Ganesha worship symbolically introduces the main theme of the play that is

incompleteness and the quest for completeness or perfection. The play revolves

around the myth of Ganesha which operates at several levels. Jacob George C. rightly

comments

The mythical figure of Lord Ganesha represents a perfect blend of

three different worlds of experience-the divine, the human and the

animal, becomes central within the frame of the subplot too, since it

foreshadows the character of Hayavadana (216).

Hayavadana‘s problem is one of the alienation as well as incompleteness. The

incompatibility of his head and body and his inability to find his society haunt him.

He cannot join the world of Divine since he is rejected by his father, the animal world

Pandey 144

is denied to him because he has not his mother’s advantage of having a complete

animal body; the equine face makes him a stranger among men. The play deals with

the complexity of human relationships and man’s yearning for perfection. Here, the

dramatist begins the play with the traditional worship of Lord Ganesha, the presiding

deity of traditional theatre. Hayavadana’s attainment of completeness comes from

such an awareness of the mystery and hence the prayer of gratitude for Lord Ganesha

voiced by the Bhagavata at the end of the play. In this regard, Jacob George C.

remarks:

Through the attribution of a pivotal role to the Ganesha myth in

Hayavadana, Karnad achieves an admirable equation which

accommodates classical and folk conventions with the frame of

contemporary theatre strategies (216).

In this sense the play Hayavadana is unique in nature that it is rooted in Indian

cultural ethos from thematic as well as technical point of view. There one cannot

observe direct Western influence and therefore the response towards Hayavadana

from Western critical world was icy. Jacob George C. further comments:

Indian socio-cultural ethos and tradition sustains Karnad’s

plays which remains mostly open to an essentially native

explication based on indigenous critical apparatus (216).

Kapila, an iron smith and Devadatta, a Brahmin are as intensely devoted to their

friendship as naive teenagers. Kapila would do anything for him, “Jump into a well,

walk into fire. Even my parents aren’t as close to me as you are. I would leave them

this minute, if you ask me to” (HYN, I.12). Kapila is content in his servile devotion to

Devadatta (Devadatta sits on chair, Kapila on the ground happily). Padmini’s arrival

makes men of them, drives in them the knowledge of the agony of love-the rejection

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in love and the anguish of rivalry-rite of the passage into adulthood. Devadatta is an

inveterate lover but this time has seriously fallen for Padmini. Here, Karnad seems

like the great epic-poet Kalidasa, when he pens the character of his most ambitious

heroine Padmini. The delineation of Padmini’s beauty reminds the sensual description

of Kalidasa’s heroines.

DEVADATTA. How can I describe her Kapila? Her forelocks rival

the bees, her face is … (All this is familiar to Kapila

and he joins in with great enjoyment)

BOTH…. Is a white lotus. Her beauty is as the magic lake. Her

arms, the lotus creepers. Her breasts are golden urns

and her waist (Karnad I.13)

The woman is a sheer poetry. The Naika (heroine) of Kalidasa and the ideal beauty of

Vatsyanan. She is a Guru in the poetry of love. The ardor of love grows more

desperate and Devadatta would sacrifice his two arms to the Goddess Kali, his head to

Lord Rudra if he gets her. Kapila agrees to be his messenger, the moment of dramatic

irony occurs in Devadatta’s native assumption of Kapila: “a friend like him, pure

gold”… He is too rough, too indelicate. He was the wrong man to send. He’s bound to

ruin the whole thing (anguished) (I.15-16).

Kapila ironically is not just an ironsmith. In his first meeting with Padmini as he

opens the door humming ‘Pavan Veethi’ a tune that Yakshini sang for Meghadoot, her

beauty floors him.

I hadn’t thought anyone could be more beautiful than the wench Ragini

who acts Rambha in our village troupe. But this one! You’re right –she

is Yakshini Shakuntala, Urvashi, Indumati-all rolled into one (Karnad

I.16).

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Kapila’s dialogue with Padmini, his introduction of his friend, he would be groom and

her replies make him (Kapila) recognize that the woman “is as fast as lightening and

as sharp”. She is not for the likes of Devadatta. She needs a man of steel. Kapila

obviously in love with Padmini begins to consider himself the right lover-husband for

the woman. But he realizes that after carrying himself so far, for the sake of

friendship, he cannot withdraw now.

After a brief interval, Bhagavata enters, and with the marriage music in the

background, Devadatta and Padmini’s wedding takes place. The two families were

brought together by the tolls of marriage bells. A marriage in the Indian context is not

something that takes place between the two individuals but something that brings two

progenies together. Bhagavata also describes the marriage of Devadatta and Padmini

as two families coming together.

Karnad portrays the way marriages are fixed in India. In deciding of marriage the two

families take part actively and the desires, psychological needs and the factors like

personality resonance are ignored. Here, Kapila could analyze that Devadatta is not a

suitable life partner for Padmini, but as two families decide, the marriage takes place.

Padmini, though an enchanting woman, wages a war against the patriarchal order of

command and ultimately she too becomes a prey to the tyranny of the patriarchal

society.

Through the character of Padmini, Karnad visualizes another problem faced by Indian

women. Chastity and loyalty are concepts limited to women only. Chastity is such a

value invented by patriarchal culture and it is one of the most powerful yet invisible

cultural fetters that it has enslaved women for ages since the dawn of patriarchy. The

Ramayana, in which Sita undergoes the fire ordeal to prove her chastity to Rama, has

been a cultural guide to Indians for more than two thousand years. Every mother

Pandey 147

along with father and other elders enslaves her daughter to patriarchy by teaching her

verbally and non-verbally that the chastity is more important than life and that its loss,

which brings an unbearable social stigma, is worse than death. Many women loose

their lives to protect their chastity and many other women bear in silence all the

oppression and violence of their sadistic husbands. If any courageous woman violates

these values, she is not only looked down upon but also culturally excommunicated. It

is clear that the concept of chastity is gender biased and that women care more for

chastity than men.

Karnad is a perfect modern existentialist, in dealing with the character of Padmini. He

considers a woman as a woman only, a full biological entity. Naturally, a woman

accepts the roles of a daughter, sister, wife, mother etc. later but remains a woman at

first. Hence, her basic and natural instincts need fulfillment and the character of

Padmini has been developed on the same parameters. She is also ready to accept all

the roles and responsibilities but she cannot suppress or give up her basic desires for

the sake of social ethics. The dramatist has the unique ability to transform the simple

story into an existential drama of search for identity amidst tangled relationship. The

search for completeness in the world of in completeness is the main theme.

Padmini is the most powerful character in the play. She is a rebel like modern feminist

who wants to live a full time life, to fulfill her longings. She has to fight against the

social conventions and taboos. In Indian society where the cast system is quite strong,

Padmini’s revolt shows her courage and integrity. As the Goddess Kali says, she is

not hypocrite and quite honest in three of them. She is the symbol of emancipated

woman, because she does not play passive feminine role. Even when she is pregnant,

undertakes a tough journey. She is a daring heroine of Karnad and didn’t care about

the set rules of society. She married to the Brahmin boy Devadatta but adorer of

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manliness of Kapila and ridicules Devadatta’s bad cart driving. Karnad depicts

Padmini’s unrepressed nature and her inner feelings through the folk device of chorus.

Padmini goes with Devadatta’s head and Kapil’s body as it is the head that rules over

the Kapila’s manly body in one. Padmini tells Kapila’s head and Devadatta’s body

that she carried his seed in her womb. Kapila went into the forest and Devadatta and

Padmini returned to Dharmpura. They plunged themselves into the joys of married

life. This extra ordinary situation helps Padmini to escape from the moral code of the

society. She has now got the husband who is both intelligent and manly. A man both

these qualities is rare and she wants both. Fortunately, she finds both in one man by

transposing heads, but not permanently.

This happiness for Padmini is temporary. Devadatta could succeed in satisfying

Padmini with Kapila’s fabulous body for a short span. Ultimately it is the head that

wins. Devadatta’s physical energy is gone after a year. The body soon begins to adapt

to Devadatta’s head. Devadatta’s physical features soon change. He loses his

muscular body and suppleness. His tight and muscular stomach becomes loose. His

body becomes the delicate body of the scholarly young Brahmin. Padmini is now

disillusioned. She starts missing Kapila once again and Devadatta loses Padmini.On

the other side, Kapila’s head with Devadatta’s body lives in the forest. He has already

trained the delicate body into muscular one by hard physical labour. Padmini once

again begins to languish for Kapila. She longs for the unwashed, sweaty smell of

Kapila. In her sleeps she dreams of and decides to live with him.

Padmini sends Devadatta to the fair in Ujjain and walks into the forest with her small

child to meet Kapila. Kapila has buried all his faceless memories but Padmini digs

them up. Kapila is suffering from the mad dance of incompleteness Padmini too

realizes that she has been defeated in search of completeness. She says to Kapila:

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“Yes you won Kapila. Devadatta won too. But I the better half of two bodies-I neither

win nor lose” (II.57).

But she tells Kapila that it was her fault to mix up the heads for which he suffered.

Through the character of Padmini Karnad tried to present the ambitions of modern

woman, who wants to fulfill her wishes at any cost. Padmini acts without the fear of

society, does not pay any attention to the social compulsions and obligations and

consequently, suffers and brings disorder in the lives of the people, she is directly

involved with. Had she been satisfied with the Kapila as a family friend, or even as

her friend, the problem could have been kept at bay. But she crosses all the limits of

morality and begins to cross the danger line when the alarm bells go ringing.

Destiny has given her chance to fulfill her immoral desire by exchanging the heads of

Kapila and Devadatta. She should be satisfied with her transformed husband. Her

desire for the better of the two is fulfilled, though temporarily. Having enjoyed the

sweet fruit of her action she should have restricted herself but it is as if she wants to

continue enjoying the benefits permanently that accounts for her problems. Padmini a

bold woman is torn between two polarities. She is a woman who loves her husband as

well as someone else for the two different aspects of their personalities. After the

exchange of heads, Padmini experiences the best of both men, but gradually she

becomes aware of the fact the state of completeness is a mirage only. In the end, the

two friends die and Padmini performs sati.

The moral is that one man cannot posses all the good qualities and that the world is

full of incomplete individuals. The world is indifferent to the desires and frustrations,

joys and sorrows of human beings. The only possibility for man is to find harmony in

disharmony.

Pandey 150

The thematic concept of the play can be demonstrated through the following diagram:

Fig.12A: Before Transposition Fig. 12B: After Transposition

The playwright beautifully adopts several features of Sanskrit Drama and also the

characteristics of Indian folk drama. He combines the western techniques with Indian

folk psyche, socio cultural and political realities. Karnad is very much influenced by

“Company Natak” that was in vogue in Sirsi, and he is also influenced by

‘Yakshagana’ plays which he used to see with the servants. But the influence of

Kannada drama is quite profound and deep on him Karnad represents the best

traditions of the Kannada drama which is quite rich with romantic plays, tragedies and

comedies, poetic and blank verse plays. The playwright in Hayavadana strikes a

significant note by exploring the dramatic potential of the ancient Indian myths,

legends and folk traditions. As in the words of Tutun Mukherjee: “Karnad has made

available the rich resources of the Great and the Little tradition, the classical and the

folk elements of Indian literature” (Mukherjee, A Festschrift to Isaac Sequerira 134).

He has reoriented the traditional forms by introducing contemporary themes. The

play Hayavadana stands as an outstanding example for a play in which the playwright

has used the folk form without diluting the contemporary appeal. The opinion of B.T.

Seetha is quite apt here to mention: “Karnad recreates and adapts the tales into plots

so that the underlying meanings become apparent in terms of the signified while the

floating signifiers release multiple significations”(189).

Pandey 151

The playwright artistically introduces the device of making inanimate objects

animate. The play Hayavadana is replete with the examples of personifications. The

device of Bhagavata helps to enhance the psychological reality of the characters in the

dramatic form. He has also made use of female chorus, which was absent in

Yakshagana Tradition, the source of the play. His use of the character of Bhagavata

contributes to the drastic achievement of the play.

Karnad does not merely borrow the character of Bhagavata from a typical

Yakshagana play but increases the scope of the role by making the Bhagavata not a

mere commentator-narrator but also making him one of the characters .This narrator

is different from the traditional ones. The dramatist has presented his characters as

representatives though they have been highly individualized and the names given to

the characters are generic. He (narrator) speaks directly to them and then once again

gets absorbed in the play. The Bhagavata is omniscient and omnipresent in the play.

Like the chorus in T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral. He reports significant events

and developments of the play.

Karnad introduces Bhagavata in the play as a chorus. The main function of the chorus

is to give comments on the characters and actions of the play and provides missing

links in the play. Bhagavata sings the prayer to Lord Ganesha. He initiates the theme

of in completeness through the description of Lord Ganesha. The playwright also

introduces female chorus. Bhagavata and female chorus sing a song describing the

power of love and longing. Bhagavata says:

“You cannot engrave on water

Nor wound it with a knife,

which is why

the river

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has no fear

of memories” ( Karnad II.58).

The female chorus continues-

“The river only feels the

pull of waterfall.

She giggles and tickles and rushes

on the banks, then turns

a top of dry leaves

in the navel of the whirlpool, weaves

a water snake in the net silver strands

in the green depths, frightens the frog

on the rug of moss, sticks and bamboo leaves

sings posses, leaps and

Sweeps on in a rush” (Karnad II.59).

Then Bhagavata adds-

“While the scare crow on the bank

has a face fading

on its mudpot head

and a body torn

with memories.”(Karnad II.59).

Padmini is like a river that is pulled by the waterfall-Kapila. She rushes madly with

her desires tossing dry leaves of social inhibitions. The scarecrow of society just looks

on with its mud pot head. The song is very symbolic and full of powerful images.

Bhagavata and the female chorus narrate the story of the play time to time. Here the

role of Bhagavata is much wider than the Sutradhar of the Sanskrit Drama and even

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more dignified than the chorus of that of T.S. Eliot. But he can certainly be called a

narrator character with the scope and capacity of the chorus. The view of Savita

Goyal is quite apt to mention:

There is a superb technical achievement in the way in which Karnad

uses Brechtian type of narrator figure in the role of the Bhagavata, who

is primarily intended to draw the audience into the play. He is able to

step out of the play, talk to the audience, explaining the action with his

insightful comments” (211)

Karnad borrows technique of German dramatists for a little extent and

simultaneously, he applies a new style giving him (Sutradhar) a much responsible and

wide role. Savita Goyal is right when she opines:

Karnad widens the scope of his role; he is not only the commentator

and omniscient narrator but also one of the characters and this is amply

portrayed in act two, when the Bhagavata and Kapila converse before

Padmini arrive at Kapila’s hut and also when the Bhagavata talks to

Padmini before she performs sati the dramatist has introduced this

device in the play, perhaps, because of his childhood folk theatrical

experience in Yakshagan (211).

Another important device of drama is “the use of dolls” introduced by the playwright.

They discuss certain important points which add to the total impression of the story. It

is the dolls who notice the slow process of change in Devadatta’s body; one can

observe the metamorphosis in the personality of the protagonist through the dialogues

of Dolls.

The playwright uses dolls in the play for describing the subconscious images and

dreams that cannot be represented visually. Through this unique technique, Karnad

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shows the inner feeling of Padmini. One can see the suppressed desires of Padmini

which are not even permitted in the society to think. The dolls, a child’s discarded

plaything tattle and cluck like scandalized crones as they look into Padmini’s eyelids.

They discover that in her reveries, she perceives a man, not her husband, who looks

rougher and darker then they watch and get baffled to see him ‘ climbing a tree’ and

then ‘diving into a river’.

Girish Karnad uses special and unique symbols exploiting the concept of dreams.

According to an authority of psychology Sigmund Freud dreams are the expression of

suppressed desire. In her dreams, dolls see Padmini climbing on the tree and diving

into the river, “tree” is the symbol of “strong masculine body” on which Padmini

wants to wrap herself, and “diving into the river” is the symbol of ‘fulfillment of

sexual desires, indulging into process of inter course’. Devadatta’s transfiguration is

also communicated though the dolls. When Devadatta touches doll I it feels the

change and says:

DOLL I. His palms “They were so rough, when he first brought us

here. Like a Labourer’s. But now they are soft – sickly

soft like a young girl’s.

DOLL II. I know I’ve noticed something too.

DOLL I. What

DOLL II. His stomach. It was so tightened and muscular. Now …

DOLL I. I know. It’s loose (Karnad II.47).

Girish Karnad has peeped into the thoughts and feelings of Padmini through the

utterances of the dolls. He has made lifeless objects vital. The dolls speak more than

the human characters and possess a special insight. They reveal the audience the

Pandey 155

thought process and inner psyche of Padmini. The dolls play a vital role often

commenting on the characters, their motives, and action and developing the plot.

Now, Padmini realizes that she has lost Kapila’s strong body in Devadatta. She says

Kapila has gone out of my life forever. She again wants to see Kapila. Karnad’s

brilliant knowledge of Indian customs and beliefs, like fare (mela) at Ujjain, helps

him in the development of the plot in a new direction. Padmini says that it is

unfortunate and a bad omen to have tattered dolls at home. This is typical Indian

belief that having torn cracked or tattered things at home bring misfortune and

poverty for the keeper. According to Feng-shui (a Chinese belief) it creates negative

energy.

It is quite symbolic that Padmini is throwing away the old dolls because they are

tattered likewise Devadatta’s body is not attractive or muscular as it was earlier when

he adopted Kapila’s body. Now, Padmini is not satisfied with Devadatta’s lean and

thin body, she again starts her longing for fit and muscular body of Kapila that’s why

she is trying to send Devadatta away from her life because she wants to search an

opportunity to meet Kapila again.

Finally, she sends Devadatta to Ujjain fair to purchase new dolls for their child. The

dolls are angry and unhappy at their fate as they are old, they are being thrown away.

They want to caution Devadatta that he is going to lose his wife. They know about

Padmini’s day dreams about Kapila and say that Devadatta should worry more about

his wife than the tattered dolls. They caution him by saying

DOLL I. (to Devadatta).Watch out, you fool…

DOLL II. Refuse, you idiot… (Karnad II.52).

They know that Padmini is sending him Ujjain not for buying new dolls only. It is a

pretext under which she wants to visit Kapila in the forest. Thus, Karnad has

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employed an appropriate approach, style and form of the theatre which is closer to the

consciousness of people, consistent with cultural traditions, entertaining and yet

aesthetically satisfying.

Shape shifting is one of the important techniques used by Karnad. In the play shape

shifting enables the characters to be someone else and create a make believe world

within the make believe world that is drama. Even though it is temporary, it seems to

be catalyst for entertainment. Shape shifting is a device very cleverly and effectively

used by Karnad. Shape shifting needs not always physical, a person or animal

assuming a shape other than that of his or its own.

In Hayavadana shape shifting is instrumental, as it illumines the characters. The

prominent shape shifting is the exchange of masks between Kapila and Devadatta. In

a fit of tension, in the Kali temple Padmini joins Devadatta’s head with Kapila’s body.

Both of them come back to life. Each becomes a blend of both. Though in reality it is

impossible for such things to occur when it is shown to happen on the stage it amuses

the audiences. These strange and unbelievable experiences undergone by the fragment

creature makes one to feel ill at ease. In the subplot, shape-shifting occurs in the life

of Hayavadana, his father and mother. The episodes of shape shifting have left

Hayavadana in a miserable condition; the dramatist was successful in entertaining his

audiences. Shape- shifting is a device usefully employed and exploited by the

playwright in his several plays. Makarand R. Paranjape has rightly observed:

Shape-shifting is the term cultural anthropologists and folklorists use

to describe the transformations that are so common in the myths and

folklore of most cultures .You know, like when a plant becomes an

animal or when a woman becomes a bird, or when a statue becomes a

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man, or when a dead person becomes alive, or when a person becomes

someone else by changing shape or form in any way (84).

The first example of Shape-shifting is found in the subplot, and with this one can

observe following shape-shifting in the play:

Gandharva – White stallion

White stallion – Gandharva

Princess – Mare

Devadatta – Devadatta+ Kapila

Kapila - Kapila+Devadatta

Hayavadana - A complete man

Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, Purana and folk tales are also full of

examples of shape- shifting. Karnad has drawn this technique from these texts to

make his play more interesting and appealing. Makaranad R. Paranjape praises this

technique of shape-shifting in the following words:

Shape- shifting is a convenient method of exploring differences and

similarities between characters, situations and ideas. It proves an

underlying unity in the substratum of life while allowing multitudinous

diversity on the surface (91).

Another important feature of Karnad’s play is the use of supernatural elements. In the

play Hayavadana he adroitly introduces the supernatural elements like Goddess Kali

and her magical power to make Devadatta and Kapila alive etc. Thus, in Hayavadana,

the elements of supernatural play a significant role. The playwright employs the

conventions of folktales and motifs of folk theatre-masks, curtains, mime, songs, the

narrator, dolls, horseman, the story within the story , facilitating a mixture of the

human and non human to create a magical world. Savita Goyal comments:

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It is a play with the realm of incomplete individuals, magnanimous

gods of vocal dolls and mute children, a world apathetic to the

longings and frustrations, ecstasies and miseries of human beings

(205).

Karnad depicts the figure of Goddess Kali as a terrifying figure with mouth wide open

and tongue lolling out. She feels sleepy and she is annoyed when her sleep is

disturbed by Padmini. Devadatta had promised to offer his head to Rudra and his arms

to Goddess Kali. The Goddess Kali has been presented humorously in the play who

comments quite wittily on human motives. She calls Devadatta and Kapila liars. She

says that Padmini is honest as she tries to fulfill his desires by transposing the heads.

Thus, the play Hayavadana is full of mystical wonder and music. These elements are

presented not in terrifying manner but lightly.

The playwright used poetry and music in order to evoke a sense of gaiety and

celebration traditionally associated with the theatre. He has employed folk theatre

strategies as a thematic and technical device in order to convey his ideas and explored

different characters and situations. The main plot is set in the mythical past, but the

frame postulates a reality, which co-exists with the present audience. It is the story of

two friends, who embody the two extremes: intellectual and physical perfection. On

this particular feature of Karnad’s play Savita Goyal comments: “Hayavadana is full

of mystical wonder and is enshrouded in a realm of magic and supernatural, which is

a frequent feature in a folk play” (210).

One can also observe the element of humor, irony and satire in the play Hayavadana.

The playwright has employed humor artistically. The chief source of humor is

absurdity which is the pre-dominant theme of the play. In the opening scene of the

play, the description of Lord Ganesha initiates the theme of absurdity and

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incompleteness in a lighter vein. The very appearance of Lord Ganesha is the idea of

perfection and completeness observed, at the level of humor and irony. The idol of

Lord Ganesha itself expresses that the perfection can be attained with the help of

Nature only. No single creature in the universe is complete in itself.

The main theme of the play is transposition of heads. Devadatta’s head is transposed

on Kapila’s body and Kapila’s head on Devadatta’s body. Thus, there is a confusion

of identities. It creates a hilariously comic and absurd situation. Devadatta is adjudged

as the rightful husband of Padmini as the head determines the identity of a person.

The song in the play reveals this paradox in human nature. Karnad’s use of songs in

the play is superb and the finest medium of expression of characters mental agony and

happiness. The playwright makes play more interesting and appealing by introducing

songs. The songs about river and scarecrow are comical.

In the last scene of the play when Padmini performs Sati on the funeral pyre of

Devadatta and Kapila in the forest is ironic. It is the intelligence of the playwright that

Padmini has been shown performing “Sati” on the pyre of both the men. Karnad

himself seems concealing the real identity of Devadatta and Kapila. Now, everybody

is confused that whose wife Padmini was. Playwright leaves the matter on the

conscience of audience/ reader. The Bhagavata says:

Thus Padmini became Sati. India is known for its pativratas wives who

dedicated their whole existence to the service of their husbands- but it

would not be an exaggeration to say that no pativrata went in the way

Padmini did. And yet no one knows the spot where she went sati

(Karnad II.63).

Even the episode of killing of Devadatta and Kapila and Padmini’s performance of

sati has been presented not in tragic manner but in ironic manner. Dolls also provide

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humor in the play. The subplot of Hayavadana is also full of humor and irony

Hayavadana‘s mother was a princess, who fell in love with a white stallion. The scene

when Hayavadana’s mother princess chooses a white stallion instead of a prince of

Arabia also creates a feeling of wonder and bathetic situation.

The comic element of the play is provided by the encounter between Nata and

Hayavadana. Karnad allows Hayavadana to make many contemporary references to

political and social issues, which the Yakshagana’s comedians are similarly permitted

to use. Karnad has employed all other conventions of Yakshagana in Hayavadana

like: songs, music, The Bhagavata, Ganesha Pooja at the opening, The Bhagavata

Vyakhyana at the end, stylish actions and others. He has succeeded in creating a

proper Indian atmosphere in Hayavadana.

He introduces a number of words from Indian languages into his English trans-

creations e.g. words like Punya, arti, sati, sadhu, fakirs, gandharva, Kalpavirksha,

Viganeshrwara, rishi, Ganesha, Kali, pativrata, Yakshni, Shakuntala, Seeta have been

freely used. Half curtains and painted curtains carried by stage hands are used to

convey some facts. For example, when Padmini performs Sati, the curtain has a

blazing fire painted on it and as it is lifted, the flames seem to leap up. He also uses

the indigenous folk device of masks, to project the personalities of different characters

like Yakshagan.

In his first play Yayati Pooru is shown wearing the mask of Yayati accepting to

decrepitude of his father with great sense of responsibility, respect and sacrifice.

Where as in Tughlaq, role playing is a kind of mask, as a king, the sultan has to play

many roles in his life. The different role that he plays is that of a visionary, a tyrant, a

forgiver, a self realizing person and also a devotee. Thus, role playing and disguise

are alternatives to mask. In the play Naga Mandala, Naga is playing role of Appanna.

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In Hayavadana Lord Ganesha wears an elephant headed mask. Lord Ganesha is

considered a mixture of human, animal and divine forms. Later on, Devadatta appears

on the stage wearing a pale colored mask and Kapila a dark mask and Kali wearing a

terrible mask. Thus, Karnad beautifully employed the folk tradition of mask in almost

all his plays. The words of B.T. Seetha are quite true:

Karnad’s drama offers a unique aesthetic approach to myths, folk lore

and storytelling. The plots provide ample scope for a variety of

experiments on the stage. Masks become inevitable as the story

incorporates a multi-level performance (198).

Karnad uses many figures of speech while describing his female protagonist Padmini

to emphasize the different facets of her beauty and personality. The playwright uses

exquisite metaphor to highlight the charming beauty of Padmini“…her face… is a

white lotus. Her beauty is the magic lake. Her arms the lotus creepers. Her breasts are

the golden urn and waist”(I.13).One can also find the use of metaphor in the play

when Devadatta compared Padmini with Shakuntala or Yakshini:“You are right-She

is Yakshini, Shakuntala, Urvashi, Indumati-all rolled into one”(I.16).There is the

finest example of hyperbole when Bhagavata narrates the description of Padmini’s

house.

BHAGAVATA. In her house, the very floor is swept by the Goddess

of Wealth .In Devadatta’s house; they’ve the Goddess

of Learning for a maid (Karnad I.19).

Karnad frequently uses Indian idioms and phrases in the play.

DEVADATTA . One has to collect merit in seven lives to get a friend

like him.

PADMINI. You are my saffron, my marriage thread, my deity.

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PADMINI. Long before the sunrises, the shadow of twigs draw

alpana on the floor. The stars raise arati and go

(Karnad I.21).

Karnad uses symbolism in the songs of the play. For example the playwright presents

the river as a symbol of the force of youth and energy in the song of female chorus.

The songs appear to be richly suggestive and adequately interpret the situation.

Although Karnad denies the songs having any metaphysical aspect, an attentive reader

can not overlook the implications, for example of the river symbol in the play.

If the symbol of river is further expanded, it strikes that a river is indeed a free,

uninhibited stream of turbulent water that flows unbounded, pursuing its own

irregular path. It retains its identity and enjoys the splendid freedom all through its

path until it finally flows down and merges with the salt watered sea. There, it sinks

its identity and freedom and mutely surrenders to the all encompassing, vastness of

the all powerful sea, so also Padmini has her way, in enjoying the best of her husband

Devadatta, and then inclining toward the robust and sturdy masculinity of Kapila in

response to the sensual stirrings of her body.

She in fact, violates the oaths and the principles on which the institution of marriage

is based, and finally breaks the barrier of social customs, walks out of her marriage

and into the embrace of Kapila her ideal man in the forest. But the society like the

vast sea forge fetters to her engulfs and consumes her in the fire laid by social

customs in the name of sati. Thus, Padmini sinks her identity and perishes in the sea

of social customs. In the end of the play Karnad ties up the loose ends of the story

with symbols. Perhaps, this becomes necessary for Karnad because he cannot stretch

the original myth beyond its scope, and hence supplements the deficiency with

symbols.

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The language of the play is quite relevant to the situation as well as the theme.

Poetical and imaginative language is employed to intensify the absurdity. Karnad’s

style is simple, straight forward and idiomatic expression abounds in his plays. Like

his other plays in Hayavadana, there are immense use of idioms and phrases like,

“Hand in hand”, “look up”, “To have the check”, “Turn up”, “Mumble under breath”,

“Power to dust”, “Drool over”, “A heart of gold”, “Fell like bits of wood”, “Geets

burn out”, “Lungs turn to ash”, “To look at with dog’s eyes”, “Mad dance of

incompleteness” etc.

Thus, through the reading of Hayavadana one can say that, this play of Karnad is

realistic enough. Though it has mythological setting, yet it reveals the psychological

limitations of a common human being. Man wants to be perfect i.e. Purna, but Hindu

Mythology says ‘Purna’ is only one i.e. God the Almighty. It is impossible to get

perfection for a man like God. When Drupadi asked for five qualities in her husband,

then too it was not possible. She had to marry five people to get the desired qualities.

Padmini in Hayavadana is a symbol of common man’s desire to achieve perfect

combination.

With the help of Mythological setting Karnad has succeeded to present age old

longing of desires. Man is a puppet in the hands of desires and when it happens it

creates a puzzle like Hayavadana. The play Hayavadana is a technically strong in

structure and plot because it presents its relevance even today. This shows the

universal effect of Hindu mythology which is ancient but quite pertinent forever. By

choosing such a theme like Hayavadana Karnad shows his wisdom. A man of letters

like him is worried about the present day moral and ethical scenario therefore he

brings forth the new concept of perfection in a unique style. Thematically and

technically it is a masterpiece produced from Karnad’s pen.

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