Girish Karnad was an Indian playwright who wrote Hayavadana, about two friends - Devdutta and Kapila - who exchange bodies accidentally via magic. The play explores themes of hybridity, incompleteness, and the conflict between body and mind. It uses symbols like masks and a strange creature called Hayavadana to represent characters' sense of incompleteness. The play also examines issues like women's roles, the relationship between nature and the city, and questions of Indian identity. Overall, Hayavadana is an existential play that considers themes of responsibility, the search for identity, and the complexity of human relationships.

1. SOUTH ASIAN LITERATURE
Level : MS1
Submitted by : Tania Ashraf
Submitted to : Miss Umme Laila
Dated : 12-03-2023

3. Hayavadana
By Girish Karnad

4. Introduction Of the author
• Girish Karnard was born in Matheran , Maharashtra . He was an
Indian actor film director, playwright and a Jnanpith awardee , who
predominantly worked in South Indian cinema. His initial schooling
was in Marathi. He earned his Bachelors of Arts degree from
Karnataka university. upon graduation , he went to England where he
earned his Master of Arts degree in philosophy, political science and
economics.

5. Girish Karnad’s Work and his Achievements
• He is best known as a playwright. He wrote plays in Kannada and
translated them into English, most of them, he translated by himself.
He rises as a playwright in the 1960s marking the coming age of
modern Indian playwriting in Kannada for four decades he has been
composing plays, often using history and mythology to tackle
contemporary issues e.g Hayavadana , Yayati , Nagamandala etc.
• Girish Karnad awarded for Literature with many awards includes
Sangeet Natak Akademi award and Varthur Navya Awards , Padma Sri
, Padma Bhushan , Kannada Sahitya Parishat award , and most
predominantly Jnanpith award .

6. I Choose this book because……..
• Girish Karnad's play Hayavadana has various cultural implications,
which are relevant even today
• Culture defines society and Karnad’s plays are a reflection of the
culture in our society. Focusing on our folk culture, he takes
inspiration from mythology and folklore.
• With Hayavadana, Karnad has taken us back to the myths and legends
of the Hindu religion.

7. Characterization in Hayavadana
• Bhagwata - the main narrator of the play
• Devdutta - One of the two friends, A man of knowledge
• Kapila - Devdutta's Friend, A man with great physical strength
• Padmini - A beautiful woman, love interest of the two friends
• Hayavadana - A strange creature with the Head of a Horse and body of a
man
• Actor-1 - An assistant to Bhagwata
• Goddess Kali - the Goddess who brings Devdutta and Kapila back to life.
• The Boy - Son of Devdutta and Padmini
• Vidyasagar (only referenced) - Devdutta's father

8. Symbolism in Hayavadana
• The title of the novel is very symbolic as Hayavadana is the name of a
creature with a horse's body and a human face, a strange animal that
appears intermittently to articulate the moral of this story.
• 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.
• Mask of Ganesh. The mask of Ganesh is a symbol of the great
unknowable mysteries of the universe.

9. •Symbolism in Hayavadana
• The stallion is a symbol of the beastly nature of humans. ...
• The cart is a symbol of journeys and transitions
• The fortunate lady’s flower appears several times throughout the
play, and symbolizes the limitations of Padmini’s happiness in her
marriage

10. Major Themes
• Hybridity
• Incompleteness
• Conflict Between Body and Mind
• Women's Subversiveness
• City vs. Nature
• Indian Identity

11. Important Quotes of the novel
• O single-tusked destroyer of incompleteness, we pay homage to you and
start our play.
• Devadatta enters and sits on the chair. He is a slender, delicate-looking
person and is wearing a pale-coloured mask. He is lost in thought. Kapila
enters. He is powerfully built and wears a dark mask.
• The sun rests his head on the Fortunate Lady’s flower. And the head is
bidding good-bye to the heart
• Bhagavata: Hayavadana, what's written on our foreheads cannot be
altered.
• Hayavadana: But what a forehead! What a forehead! If it was a forehead
like yours, I would have accepted anything. But this!

12. Existentialisim in Hayavadana
• Existentialism is a philosophical and literary perspective that focuses
on the experience of an individual person and the way that he or she
understands the world
• Karnad‟s plays Hayavadana by all means remarkable existential play
which deal with the theme of responsibility, search for identity and
the issue of relationship.
• Hayavadana deals with human relationship and the theme of search
for identity . Characters are trapped in the intertwined mixture of
situations; as a result they lead an undesirablelife and appear as
incomplete personalities.