Analyse Karnads Hayavadana as a feminist text.

Girish Karnads play, Hayavadana is a complex text and contains a lot of ambiguity and is therefore amenable to several interpretations. One of the striking things about the play is its feminist implications. The feminist implications and the question of desire and its fulfilment has been outlined in the play from the very beginning and it has been emphasised again and again, through the intervention of the female chorus which sounds a bit like the conclusion, when it appears at the end when the three of them have died. This is intended to seem like an end which as a result of the structural complexity of the play it is not. The way the play does not end here is another example of the distancing devices used several times in the play. The other story of Hayavadana the man with the head of a horse (who achieves completeness when during the end of the play, he becomes a complete horse) is independent from the main and longer story of Padmini, Devdatta and Kapila. These apparently disconnected stories, the intermittent interventions by Bhagavata as narrator of the story and his opinions, as well as the female chorus and the use of supernatural elements serve to function as distancing devices and demand a more critical engagement from the audience. Although there is no direct connection between the two stories in the play a symbolic themetic similarity between the two is obvious. The tale of Hayavadana is about incompleteness and dissatisfaction and the inability to reconcile with one fate and ones body/self to ones desires. The other story too has a similar identifiable theme in which the disharmony between the body and the mind has been explored. So the two stories have a symbolic connection which helps emphasize the thematic consistence to the play which otherwise is somewhat disjointed. The two stories help to break the linear narrative and make the interpretation of the play more complex and in symbolic ways. The play has been named after the shorter story of the man with the horses head. This might be to emphasise the theme(s) of the play which have been outlined somewhat more prominently in this story. In this context it might be significant to note that Hayavadana is able to achieve completeness at the end by being able to transform into a complete horse. On the other hand in the other story the three protagonists resolve their conflicts only by embracing death as they are not able to gain fulfilment otherwise. Even though they had acknowledged and begun to address the problem by talking in a frank and honest manner about it (which they are able to do only during the end), they are not able to resolve it in any satisfactory manner. Even this they are able to do only because Padmini is not a typical Indian woman who believes in sacrificing herself for the husband and Devdatta and Kapila are very good friends. In the end, even after they have finally confronted and acknowledged the problem about their fragmented selves and (fragmented desire in the case of Padmini) they are not able to adapt to the situation. Rather the mutually agreed solution which they find is in death. Kapila and Devdatta kill each other and Padmini too decides to die as Sati. However this solution too is the most dissatisfying to her. This is not her idea but she is not able to speak against it or about her own opinion. Padmini is far from being a typically exploited or

submissive woman but is rather honest about her desires and yet she too is uncomfortable speaking about her desires for the two men and often is rather indirect. When they both decide to die she is not able to say anything but laments the fact that it had to be so, and that they forgave each other but forgot about her. She had felt ignored also the first time the two had committed suicide at the Kali temple. On both these occasions when decisions concerning the fate of all three are taken she is the one who feels ignored and helpless. Although both the men are irremediably in love with her they take these decisions which also concern her without knowing her opinion about what should be done. Even in the shorter tale of Hayavadana the feminist angle can be said to be present. Hayavadanas mother is said to have fallen in love with a celestial being who had been cursed into becoming a horse. Later when the celestial being is freed of the curse and has regained his original form, the princess and the mother of Hayavadana refuses to go with him if he does not take up the form of the horse. She is then cursed by him into becoming a horse which she is said to have been happy to become. She does so and chooses in favour of what she desires and goes against the authority of her male lover/husband who is also a celestial being and therefore can be assumed to have even more moral authority. Although Karnad has moulded his play in a manner which makes use of folk theatrical techniques and pre-colonial methods of story-telling an example of which is the way it begins, he also plays radically with the often typically religious themes which one might have come to expect it. Besides this the beginning with the God Ganeshs puja also serves to highlight the theme of the play which is about incompleteness and the quest for completeness and perfection. The feminist angle in the play is much more pronounced in the tragic triangular love story of Padmini, Devdatta and Kapila. It is significant that the theme of the story and the female point of view represented in the play by Padmini is outlined in the very beginning of the story and even before any of the protagonists has made their appearance on the stage. This happens through the intervention of the two female choruses just when Bhagvata the narrator has just begun to narrate the story. The chorus represents or voices a subversive and hedonistic view of female desire:
Female chorus: [sings] Why should love stick to the sap of a single body? When the stem is drunk with this yearning of the many petalled many flowered lantana, why should it be tied down to the relation of a single flower?

The second female chorus follows soon after:

Female chorus[sings]: A head for each breast. A pupil for each eye. A side for each arm. I have neither regret nor shame. The blood pours into the earth and a song branches into the sky.

These choruses are repeated again at the end, and serves to highlight the theme of the play. Although the theme has been outlined from the very beginning its treatment in the play is complex and there is a lot of ambiguity in the way some important questions have been dealt with. For example, in the second Act of the play when Kapila and Devdatta have agreed that it wont be possible for the three of them to live together and that therefore they should die, there can be more than one interpretations as to why they do so. It might be interpreted as the effect of suffocating, repressive and violent male tendencies which often dominate in a

patriarchal society that Padmini fails to speak her mind at this point. It can also be interpreted as a lack of courage in her and a result of being conditioned by patriarchy to think in a certain way which makes it impossible for her to imagine the possibility of the three of them living together in harmony. The play is as much about Padminis desires which can be said to represent female desire, and the scope of its fulfilment, as it is also about (in essentialist language) mans desire for perfection and completeness. It has been widely agreed upon that Padmini loves and desires both Devdatta and Kapila and it indeed seems so but there are more examples in the play showing her desire for Kapila than for her husband Devdatta. She indulges in playful bantering with him even when they meet for the first time when he had come on behalf of his friend Devdatta. Later, her desire for him becomes much more obvious. Maybe she liked him from the very beginning and would have liked to marry him instead of Devdatta but it wasnt possible due to the differences in the social status and caste. The caste of all the three protagonists has been mentioned in the play and Bhagavata informs the audience that, Padmini is the daughter of the leading merchant of Dharanpura. In her house the very floor is swept by the Goddess of Wealth. In Devdattas house, they have the Goddess of Learning for a maid. What could then possibly stand in the way of bringing the families together. Although they belong to different castes, this obstacle is surmountable as they can be said to belong to the upper classes. Now Kapila clearly has an inferior social status compared to these two as his father is only an ironsmith who worth in that capacity has also been mentioned. Kapila too warns Devdatta that she might be unsuitable for him and that hes a gentle soul whereas she is fast as lightning-and as sharp. When Devdatta is jealous because Padmini desires Kapila, she diverts his thoughts by saying that hes such an innocent and calling him a yokel at which they both laugh. Indeed the opposition between the two friends is based on their social stutus as Kapila can be said to represent the peasant and working class whereas Devdatta is an intellectual according to his status and role in society as a brahmin. Social status in the play has at several instances been expressed in terms of physical capabilities. The dolls (which has been included in the play to represent petty conventional morality) too, express the social bias against the working class, brute, physical attributes of Kapila and admire the softness of a body which doesnt have to labour. It is striking that Padmini asks Kapila about why he has tortured his body(Devdattas) now that it has lost its softness and once again becomes rough although that is what she has desired. She says that it had been like that of a prince. The play can be interpreted as a critique of marriage as defined by social status. When the couple are arguing about whether they should go on the trip with Kapila or not, Padmini tells Devdatta that, Well do as you feel. You remember what the priest said-Im your half now. The better half! . She seems to be conscious of her obligations towards her husband but not very happy about it. Another instance which might be cited from the play in support of its feminist implications is the scene when the two friends commit suicide as they are not able to come to terms with their relationship with each other. They commit suicide without thinking about her as they do when they kill each other at the end for the same reason. When they have died she is also conscious of how public opinion is going to be against her. She says to no one, What

shall I say happened? And wholl believe me? Theyll all say the two fought and died for this whore. They are bound to say it. She is afraid of this predictable and quite typical patriarchal response although ironically this accusation is somewhat true in this case although, she is not a whore. She knows that this would have been the reaction even if she had not been responsible for their deaths which in this case she indirectly is. It is also significant that the deity Kali saves only her because she is honest and she is also able to save them. The play boldly explores the question of physical desire and female sexuality in a radical manner. It is untypical the way Padmini does not begin to loath Devdatta in spite, of apparently being more attracted to Kapila. However, some critics have also pointed out the way in which women in Kannada theatre in the 1960s and 70s were increasingly being depicted as sexual beings. Padmini is however, not able to save them during the end when they agree to killing each other as they think there is no solution to their predicament. Here too she does not say anything or fails to do so but mainly because she agreed with them that they will not be able to live together because of the two men and their hostility and not her. The deity responds to her honesty but also says that she was honest only because she is selfish. This is a rather non-puritanical idea of the truth and is consistent with the texts intention of exploring the question of physical desire and fulfilment. But even Padmini has been shown to be uncomfortable about expressing her desires.The way Kali responds to Padmini having attached the wrong heads is also interesting. She points this Freudian slip as now and says that, there should be a limit even to honesty. Anyway, so be it!. She is clearly happy and willing to go with Devdatta now that he has Kapilas body. Devdatta is able to accept Padminis desire without discomfort only when he has got Kapilas body and he is now comfortable with her enjoying it now. But even now when both husband and wife are happy at least for the time being Kapila has been left out and suffers in isolation because of it. During the trip when Padmini is gazing admiringly at Kapilas body and Devdatta notices it, they are both uncomfortable when their eyes meet and both look away. This is the discomfort that they are not able to shed till the very end. This act of voyeurism on Padminis part seems to be an attempt by the author to represent the otherwise generally much less discussed ideas relating to female desire. And perhaps this is where he can be said to have faltered because in doing so he seems to have privileged the macho and stereotypical idea of male physical beauty represented by Kapila. The female chorus also clearly underlines the need to acknowledge the desires and needs of the body and it also questions the traditional privileging of the head over the body. The head-body dichotomy explored in the play has been interpreted by many critics as signifying the dominance of Western cultural and intellectual values over the pre-colonial and indigenous ones. It might be interpreted as a critique of a society in which the physical and intellectual, both important defining characteristics of assumed male supremacy are incompatible and are treated as mutually exclusive functions. This is a result of class relations which privileges the intellectual over physical labours and which in the play also has a bearing on female desire as represented by Padmini. Of course the issues relating to feminism cannot be looked at in isolation and without the political and postcolonial contexts.