Hayavadana is a famous play Written by Girish Karnad based on a theme drawn from The Transposed Heads, by Thomas Mann, which is originally found in the 11th-century Sanskrit text Kathasaritsagara. Herein he employed the folk theatre form of Yakshagana. A German version of the play was directed by Vijaya Mehta as part of the repertoire of the Deutsches National Theatre, Weimar.

1. Contemporary
Concerns in Hayavadana
Nihar Sherwal
Mohit Chauhan
Prakhar Shukla

2. Main Concerns in the play
❖ Incompleteness
❖ Ideal - Real Conflict
❖ Indecisive Human Nature
❖ Identity Crisis
❖ Indicative Casteism
❖ Inequalities in Gender
❖ Incoherent Religious Offerings

3. Incompleteness
❖ People worshipping Ganesha:
“O Elephant headed Herambha”
“O single tusked destroyer of incompleteness”
❖ Sub-plot of Hayavadana.
❖ Padmini craves for a complete man.
❖ Devadatta and Padmini’s child - lacks the joy and laughter of a child.
❖ No matter how hard we try, human completeness is virtually
impossible to attain.

4. Ideal - Real Conflict
❖ The play brings out the conundrum between the ideality and the
reality.
❖ Padmini’s desire of Kapila, even when she was married to
Devadatta.
❖ Ideally, Padmini wanted the best of both worlds; Ménage à trois.
❖ But in reality, there are societal norms which are to be followed by
all of the society’s members.
❖ Can also be called a Nature - Culture conflict.

5. Indecisive Human Nature
❖ Mind vs. Body: The play shows that we as humans are faced with a
constant dilemma of choice between the two.
❖ Padmini’s inner desires depict the predicaments of modern
emancipated women.
❖ The play brings out the complex human predicaments; which have
no easy solution.

6. Identity Crisis
❖ Element of Hayavadana.
❖ After the transpositioning of the heads; both characters fight for
their identity:
“I have Devadatta’s body now, so you have to be my wife.”
“I have Devadatta’s head, and it follows that I am Devadatta.”
❖ Padmini’s identity crisis: She is entangled between the two
personalities after the exchange of heads, causing a split in her
identity.

7. Indicative Casteism
❖ When Devadatta gets irritated by Kapila:
“Go back to your smithy - that’s where you belong”
❖ Another indication:
“…Devadatta sits on the chair. Kapila sits on the ground happily…”
❖ After the transposition, Kapila is shown to stay in the forests. While
Padmini and Devadatta go back to Dharampura.

8. Inequalities in Gender
❖ Devadatta always refers to their baby as his son:
“Once our son is born, I’ll teach him to swim too.”
“You go on about it being a son. What if it’s a daughter?”
❖ Padmini’s decision to perform Sati: She realises that people will not
accept her, after knowing the cause of her husband’s death.

9. Incoherent Religious Offerings
❖ The characters offering themselves to Goddess Kali and Lord
Rudra:
“I’ll sacrifice my two arms to Goddess Kali, and my head to Lord Rudra.”
❖ A similar practice is still prevalent today, but with animals such as
goats.
❖ This shows us the blind faith people have in Gods and Goddesses.

10. Thank you!