Hayavadana - Girish Karnad

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Aria

Brief study of Girish Karnad’s play Hayavadana, covering biographical notes on the dramatist and the distinctive use of mythical, historical, and folk themes to reflect contemporary Indian social issues. Emphasizes Karnad’s command of English and the play’s humanistic focus. Summarizes the plot: Devadatta and Kapila’s friendship, Padmini’s transposition of heads, resulting identity confusion, repeated duel, Sati performance, and the horseman Hayavadana’s comic yet tragic quest for completeness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time31 min

AccessFree to download

Hayavadana - Girish Karnad

About the Dramatist: Girish Karnad

About the Play: Hayavadana

Key Themes and Narrative Elements

| B. A. Semester – 4 (English) Indian Writing in English – 1 (CCE 8) CORE / Elective – 1 / Elective – 2 (2022-23) | | | --- | --- | | | | Hayavadana (1971) -Girish Karnad About the Dramatist: Girish Raghunath Karnad was born at Matheran near Mumbai on 19 May 1938. He is a man of many talents. He is a renowned actor, film producer and playwright. He is a contemporary writer, playwright, actor and movie director in Kannada language. He is the latest of seven recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada, the highest literary honour conferred in India. For four decades, Karnad has been composing plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues. He is also active in the world of Indian cinema working as an actor, director, producer and screenwriter, earning numerous awards along the way. He was conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the government of India. He has been a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford from 1960 to 1963 and a Bhabha Fellow from 1970 to 1972. Karnad’s perfect and flawless command over English is one of the main causes of his exemplary success as a playwright. Karnad employs mythical, historical, and folk themes asthe skeleton for his plays, but they are identified with the contemporary scene. They come as amusing satires on the many social and political forces at work in present day India. As we read his plays, we feel that history and Purana repeat themselves. Karnad has done great service to introduce the folk tradition into his drama and thus expand the very horizon of the Indian stage. When we view his total dramatic output, we are impressed by the loftiness of his artistic perception and creative ingenuity. He tries his hand at all the genres of the dramatic art. He is one of the most successful and outstanding playwrights in contemporary Indian English drama. Karnad's superb command over English language is an outstanding quality of Karnad as a writer writing in English. He chooses words, phrases and proverbs very carefully from a rich treasure of English language. His words are suggestive and reveal both character and situation. His language is smooth, poetic and easy to understand. This helps the Indian audience to understand and enjoy the English play. Girish Karnad has taken the plunge into the unfathomable depths of age-old Indian mythologies to look for the subject matter of his plays and has successfully and artistically converted them into the world, which fits into the present framework to reflect the present-day social dilemmas, hiccups, and problems. All the plays of Girish Karnad have a remarkable contemporary social relevance, though he has invariably looked back to the remote past for the themes. He is attracted to the myths, legends, histories and folk stories for personal reasons. Remember: Karnad won the Kamaladevi Award of the Bharatiya Natya Sangh in 1972 for his third play Hayavadana. Its plot is based on the Katha Saritsagar tale, which Thomas Mann used for his short novel The Transposed Heads. It is a play on the search of identity in a world of tangled relationships. Devadatta, the intellectual and Kapila, the 'man of body' are very close friends. Devadatta marries Padmini, the most beautiful girl of the village Dharampura. Kapila and Padmini fall in love with each other. The two friends kill themselves. In a highly comic scene, which is of great dramatic significance Padmini transposes their heads, giving Devadatta Kapila’s body and Kapila Devadatta's! It results in a confusion of identities, which reveals the ambiguous nature of human personality. The situation gets complicated. They flight a duel and kill themselves again. Padmini performs Sati. The subplot of the play has a great comic and ironical significance. The horseman’s (Hayavadana's) search for completeness ends comically at the same time pathetically. He becomes a complete horse but with the human voice still remains with him! The play was directed in German by Vijaya Mehta. About the Play:

FAQs

Who is Girish Karnad and what is his literary background?

Girish Raghunath Karnad (born 19 May 1938) was a renowned actor, film producer, and playwright. He composed plays for decades, often using history and mythology to address contemporary issues.

What is the central plot of Hayavadana?

The play follows Devadatta and Kapila, who are close friends, and Padmini, the woman they both connect with. In a comic turning point, Padmini transposes their heads, creating confusion of identities and leading to further conflict and death.

What themes does Hayavadana explore beyond the myth?

Hayavadana examines identity and the ambiguity of human personality, while also reflecting on man’s pursuit of completeness. It connects character dilemmas with teachings associated with the Bhagavad-Gita and the nature of the Self.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Aria