GIRISH KARNAD'S HAYAVADANA AND THE PORTRAYAL

OF POST COLONIAL IDENTITY CRISIS

Anand.P
Assistant Professor on Contract
Govt. College, Thrithala
India
Abstract
The debates regarding the 'transposed heads' and the subsequent identity crisis in the famous
play Hayavadana by Karnad is well known. Some critics trace the roots of the issues to the
dominance of Dionysian Ego, bringing in elements of Psycho analysis in to the study.
Though the text is often put under the category of Post Colonial in the syllabi of many
universities, much was not discussed about the post colonial nature of this identity crisis. This
paper attempts to explore how thus identity crisis is in fact Post Colonial.

DISCUSSION
Girish Karnad is a well known figure for any student of literature in India. He is a pioneer in
Indian English Theatre, and a major exponent of the revival of the indigenous drama
tradition. Most of his plays show a kind of exploration of history and Indian myths. Yayathi,
Nagamandala, Hayavadana, all are such plays that make use of native myths. Being brought
up in a traditional manner and being acquainted with Karnataka's traditional Natak Sanghs ,
Karnad uses techniques that are essentially Indian and somewhat similar to Indian Folk
Tradition. Hayavadana tells the story of two friends and their common girlfriend and a
fantastical story of theirza heads being transposed, appears comic, but has higher significance
and greater meanings to it. It is a dramatic adaptation of a story from Kathasarithsagara, and a
much more 'Materialistic' version of the same is penned down by Thomas Mann in his
Transposed Heads. The two friends with their heads transposed, find it difficult to use a body
and head which don't match. Their primary identity crisis begins there.
Hayavadana is one of Karnads most remarkable works. The plot of Hayavadana comes from
Kathasaritsagara, an ancient compilation of stories in Sanskrit. The central event in the play-

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the story of Devadatta and Kapila- is based on a tale from the Vetalapanchavimshika, but he
has borrowed it through
Thomas Manns retelling of the story in The Transported Heads.
The Sanskrit tale, told by a ghost to an adventurous king, gains a further mock heroic
dimension in Manns version. The original story poses a moral problem whereas Mann uses it
to ridicule the mechanical notion of life which differentiates between body and soul. He
ridicules the philosophy which holds the head superior to the body.
When the play opens, Devadatta and Kapila are the closer of friends-one mind, one heart, as
the Bhagavata describes them. Devadatta is a man of intellect, Kapila a man of the body.
Their relations get complicated when Devadatta marries Padmini.
Kapila falls in love with Padmini and she too starts drifting towards him. The friends kill
themselves and in a scene, hilariously comic but at the same time full of dramatic
connotation, Padmini transposes their heads, giving Devadatta Kapilas body and Kapila
Devadattas. As a result Padmini gets the desired Man. Kali understood each individuals
moral fibre and was indifferent than the usual stereotypical portrayal of god and goddesses.
The result is a confusion of identities which reveals the ambiguous nature of human
personality. Initially Devadatta- actually the head of Devadatta on Kapilas body- behaves
differently from what he was before. But slowly he changes to his former self. So does
Kapila, faster than Devadatta. But there is a difference. Devadatta stops reading texts, does
not write poetry while Kapila is haunted by the memories in Devadattas body.
Padmini, after the exchange of heads, had felt that she had the best of both the men, gets
slowly disappointed. Of the three only she has the capacity for complete experience. She
understands but cannot control the circumstances in which she is placed. Her situation is
beautifully summed up by the image of river and the scarecrow in the choric songs.
A swordfight that leaves both the friends dead brings the baffling story to end. The death of
the three protagonists was not portrayed tragically; the deaths serve only to emphasize the
logic behind the absurdity of the situation.
Some critics argue that it is the dominance of Dionysian Ego that caused the fatal identity
crisis in the mental make-up of the two friends. Though Kapila got the body of Devadutta, it
was in his head, the Id of Kapila, which urged him to work hard and regain the physical
fitness and health of which he was once proud of. Devadutta on the other hand, though with
Kapila's strong body, could not hold back his Id, which constantly drew him towards vedic
chants and the world of poetry. Though they deceived themselves and and thought they have

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a body of the other, it was not their Super Ego that managed to succeed, it was their prime
innate nature that conquered the other aspects.

But still, apart from the revival of an ancient tale, and use of some indigenous folk arts and
dramatic techniques, what is Post Colonial in the play to call it so?
The identity crisis that which is discussed has a strong parallel in the post colonial world.
Though Colonisation changed the way people of the colonies live once and for all, they seem
to have, as Fanon says, put on a mask that doesn't suit them. It is a kind of transposed state individual separated from and being made a part of an alien culture. Something like Kapila
and Devadutta did with their heads rooted in an alien body.
The heads of the two bosom friends didn't recognise the body as theirs and kept on disliking
it. But others like Padmini saw it as perfection. An Indian or people of colonies with some
western education and exposure attempts to fit themselves in that Western Culture. Others
consider them as superior as they belong to a culture of Europe. But perfection is not
achieved with such a borrowed identity, but with one's own. Same was the case of Kapila and
Devadutta, they could not achieve perfection in a borrowed attire.
The natives of the colonies were given Western education and are made to consider the West
as an Intellectual and Cultural Superior, though thrives to attain that cultural elements and be
a part of it, actually find themselves caught between, and in fact neither here nor there. Their
souls remain restless and their identity is at crisis.
Hayavadana can be looked upon from such an angle to lend it Post Colonial significance and
the much discussed identity crises of the three leading characters turn political from
psychological. Being penned down in this globalised post colonial condition, the story should
not be taken for granted. Apart from being an adapted version of an ancient Legend,
Hayavadana explores the psychology of the Orient, and the politics of Eurocentrism and its
resultant cultural turmoil in the minds of the natives of the colonised nations.

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References:
Karnad, Girish. Hayavadana (1997). Kottayam. DC Books, 2013.

Web References:
http://www.academia.edu/4554659/Hayavadana
http://pintokarnad.blogspot.in/2011_05_01_archive.html
http://www.studymode.com/essays/Summary-Of-Hayavadana-1587890.html

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