The theme of incompleteness in "Hayavadana".

Girish Karnad, one of the major dramatists of the Kannada theatre, seized with the theme of incompleteness, imperfection in his successful play, "Hayavadana". Moutushi Chakravartee in "Myth and Symbol as Metaphor: A Re-consideration of Red Oleanders and Hayavadana" calls such an attempt "man's eternal quest for completeness". Manchi Sarat Babu Baby in "Dionysian Ego in Girish Karnad's Hayavadana" terms such incompleteness and imperfection as "alienation".


             The main plot of the play is based on the story of the "Transposed Heads" in the Sanskrit "Vetala Panchavinsati" which forms part of Kshemendra's "Brihat Katha Mariyan" and Somadeva's "Kathasaritsagara". Karnad has taken ths mythical story and combined it with his reading of Thomas Mann's "reworking of the tale" in "The Transposed Heads". "Hayavadana" is the retelling of the old story in order to express the modern theme of the search for a completeness.


             Girish Karnad very cunningly opens his play with the occassion of the worshipping the Lord Ganesha. The choice of Ganesh Puja is very significant in the context of the problem of incompleteness because Lord Ganesha , the harbinger of success with human body and animal head suggests the entire theme of incompleteness. As the Bhagavata says,
       An elephant's head on a human body, a broken task and a cracked belly -- whichever way he is looked at, he is the embodiment of imperfection, incompleteness."
     However, this "Vakratunda Mahakaya" is the Lord and master of all success and perfection.


               The perfect combination of the spirit and flesh on human life is next to impossible. Girish Karnad as a great dramatist, to suggest the theme of incompleteness more vividly and more lucidly, innovates the subplot of the play,  "Hayavadana", the horse-headed man. It provides the framework for the play both as a prologue and an epilogue. As Krishna Gandhi writes,
       "The theme of the play is an old one.....man's yearning for completeness, for perfection...... But the ideal of perfection itself is ambiguous. The character of Hayavadana is invented as an example of this ambiguity."


              Hayavadana is a man with the head of horse and he wants to get rid of his horse's head and become a complete man. Later he goes to Kali Temple and the goddess grants him his boon, "make me complete", but in a hurry to fulfil it, she makes him a complete horse instead of a complete man. Though previously he has the human voice, but with the child's help his laughter turns into neigh. In the Introduction of the play, Girish Karnad wrote,
         "The horse man's search for incompleteness ends comically with his becoming of complete horse."


              The main plot of the play is also concerned with the theme of imperfection. Here Karnad is influenced by Thomas Mann's "The Transposed Heads". The plot centres round two young man from Dharmapura, Devadatta and Kapila whom Bhagavata describes as "one mind, one heart" and a beautiful young lady, Padmini. Devadatta is in love with Padmini and Kapila helps him to get married to her, knowing fully that Padmini is not meant for the likes of Devadatta. She is not only beautiful (Kalidas's Shyamanayika), but also sharp and intellectual, while Devadatta is simple and gentle.


               After marriage, Kapila frequently comes to Devadatta's house and Devadatta begins to feel jealous. But Padmini enjoys Kapila's company very much. Actually Padmini wants the intelligent mind of Devadatta and the "powerfully built" and "darker" body of Kapila.


             Being failed to be digested with the nameless love of Padmini for Kapila, Devadatta sacrifices his head to the Kali temple. Kapila folloes him there and he also sacrifices his head because he can't live without his friend, "No Devadatta, I can't live without you. I can't breathe without you." Left alone, Padmini is also about to sacrifice her life, but the Goddess stops her and says her to join the heads and touch them with a sword to restore their lives. But Padmini, intentionally or inadvertently mixes up the two heads. When the two come back to life , there is a confuconfusion about the head and the body -- "What indeed is the solution to this problem which holds the future of these three unfortunate beings in a Balance?" However, finally Devadatta's head and Kapila's body win over as Padmini says, "It's my duty to go with Devadatta. But remember I'm going with your body. Let that cheer you up." With this transposition Padmini becomes happiest because her desire of a perfect body and mind is now fulfilled.


              But the problem raises again when Devadatta's mind makes Kapila's body  accustomed with him. Padmini's mental agony and her longing for Kapila is conveyed in the play through the fragmented conversation of the dolls Devadatta has bought from Ujjain Fair. Soon after that, in the absence of Devadatta, Padmini goes to Kapila to meet and Devadatta comes looking for his wife with a sword and they fight with each other and die -- "No grounds for friendship now. No question of mercy. We must fight like lions amd kill like cobras." And finally Padmini performs Sati -- "Make me a large funeral pyre" after handing over her child to Bhagavata.


              The search for completeness leads the characters to their tragic and poignant death. The play explores the theme of incompleteness at three levels--- the animal, the human and the divine. If Lord Ganesha represents the imperfection at the divine level, Padmini, Devadatta and Kapila at human level and Hayavadana at animal level. Incompleteness is inevitable and human relationships are bound to be influenced by it and Karnad very tactically represents the theme in his play.