Importance of Padmini's son in Girish Karnad's "Hayavadana".

Girish Karnad is one of the most important Indian English playwrights who creates characters in order to expose his intention and to fulfil his intention as well. In "Hayavadana", one of the most successful stage-plays by him, he also does not deviate from his thought. Here he creates the character of Padmini's son to show the modern theme of the play.


            Padmini's son interestingly has no name in the play. This child represents all children in modern times, who are born to parents who have a split and disturbed relationship. The death of Devadatta and Padmini has an adverse effect on the child who becomes autistic and withdrawn. The child is also representative of the play's main theme i. e. the theme of incompleteness as he has lost the child's natural privilege to laugh and enjoy as Padmini says, "My son had never laughed with the river or shivered in the wind or felt the thorn cut his feet."


              In creating a connection between the two plots, the boy has also an important role. Though he is the son of Padmini and Devadatta, the characters from the main plot, he has also a connection with Hayavadana, the character of the subplot. The boy also helps in making Hayavadana completely complete as when he laughs with the boy, suddenly "his human voice is gone" and "......Hayavadana has become complete." And finally the boy himself also becomes complete as he is "also enjoying himself, singing bits of the song and urging the horse on."


           He also helps as a mediator between the tradition and modernity. When Padmini was going to perform Sati, She delivered the boy to Bhagavata and said him to transfer the boy to the people who are close to Kapila and who lived in jungle and therefore when he became a grown- up boy, then he must be delivered to Devadatta's family who lived in town. Here jungle suggests tradition and modernity is represented by the city. And the boy is the mediator between these two.


            Thus in the development of the plot as well as in expressing the main theme of the play and to show the modernity of Karnad's invention, Padmini's son has a crucial role to play.