[A review of the play "Hayavadhana" by my friend Anuradha (Anu)]
Last week I saw this play called Hayavadhana. It is a play written by Girish Karnad in the 1970s and was initially staged in Kannada. The play I saw was adapted to English and was performed by the Madras Players at the Museum Theatre.
It was an interesting play in terms of concept, the execution (sometimes I refer to this as the form of the play) and the performances. The story begins with a man with a horse’s head (and hence the title Hayavadhana – horse face) looking for a way to become a `complete man’. The narrative is in the form of a narrator (bhagavatha) telling the story to the audience.
But the real story is that of two friends Kapila and Devadutta. The former is a blacksmith and is known for his physical prowess, the latter is an intellectual and is known for his mastery of the sacred texts and his poetry. Devadutta falls in love with Padmini, a rich merchant’s daughter and marries her with the help of Kapila (as the go between).
Padmini while fond of her husband, his gentle handsome form and his intellect, is also attracted to Kapila’s powerful physique. On their way to Ujjain for a festival, Devadutta sensing his wife’s attraction for his friend and unable to bear it, offers his head as a sacrifice to Kali; Kapila who finds his dead friend also offers his head as a sacrifice to Godess Kali.
Padmini finds the two of them with their chopped off heads in the temple and pleads with Kali to restore them to life. Kali agrees and asks Padmini to put the heads on the bodies and offer a prayer. When they come alive, Padmini realises that she has by mistake exchanged the heads – so now Devadutta’s head is on Kapila’s body and vice versa. There ensues a brief row between the two friends as to who is Padmini’s rightful husband. It is decided that since the head is the what determines the functioning of the rest of the body, Devadutta (with Kapila’s body) is Padmini’s husband.
Devadutta and Padmini return to their home, while Kapila goes to the forest in shame and anger. While initially Padmini is very happy that her desires are fulfilled – Devadutta’s beautiful and intelligent head with Kapila’s virile physique-, soon Devadutta’s inclination towards the intellectual pursuits lead to the deterioration of his physical prowess. Padmini is once more discontent.
She sends Devadutta to Ujjain to buy new dolls for their child and goes to the forest looking for Kapila. Though initially bitter, Kapila has regained his strength and Padmini offers him her love. Devadutta too turns up here and in an ensuing duel, the two friends kill each other. Padmini then offers herself up to the Godess Kali.
The story is narrated in a completely matter-of-fact form, no moral overtones whatsoever and with some excellent humour. The exploration of the relationships is also extremely natural. Not one of the three main characters is bothered by the morality of the issue, they only look at how they themselves feel.
n.aditya@gmail.com> wrote:
> ———- Forwarded message ———-
> From: Ganesan, Aravind (CBGI)
> Aravind.Ganesan@morganstanley.com>
> Date: Dec 2, 2005 8:40 PM
“,1] ); //–>The play also has some moments of insight , for instance when Kali says to Padmini – `those who are selfish are likely to be the most honest and make no pretensions towards nobility. You are one of them and hence I grant you your wish.’ or when Hayavadhana who gets transformed into a horse, says `Oh, there is no point being a horse who can talk like a man. There is no completeness here you see, I am still neither one nor the other.’ Also there are no signs of any class conflicts in the play – neither between Devadutta (a Brahmin) and Kapila (a blacksmith) nor between Devadutta and Padmini (a merchant’s daughter).
The form of the play too was excellent. Though adapted to English, the play retained the original form of execution interspersed with music in Kannada and a very well choreographed folk dance. So one got a fairly vernacular experience even though the dialogues were in English. There were also some nice touches like Kali with a convent accent and Wodehousian sense of humour. And the brilliant thought of using two dolls(Katputlis) to tell the story of the deteriorating relationship between Padmini and `Devadutta with Kapila’s body’. That was especially humurous and very, very well told.
The best credit for the excellent play lay in the very well chosen cast and the brilliant performances of the actors. Each one of the players performed effortlessly, naturally and completely in sync with the character they were playing. I was specially impressed with Padmini who played the role very naturally, while subtly displaying the shades of selfishness in the character as well as the sweet and natural charm which attracts the two friends.
A lovely experience on the whole. Kudos to Madras Players and great to see the Chennai play scene improving!
