Hayavadana: Act 1 Summary & Analysis

At the beginning of the performance, a mask of Ganesha (a Hindu god with the head of an elephant and the body of a boy) is brought onstage and placed onto a chair in front of the audience, and a puja is done.

The Bhagavata asks that Ganesha, who is the “destroyer of obstacles,” bless the performance and give it success. He comments that Ganesha may seem to be an imperfect being because of his hybrid state, but that his completeness is simply unknowable to mortal beings.

The Bhagavata then sets up the action of the play. He first introduces the setting, the kingdom of Dharmapura. He then introduces the two heroes, Devadatta and Kapila. Devadatta, who is fair and handsome, is the son of a Brahmin and is a highly intellectual poet. The Bhagavata describes how he outdoes the best poets and pundits in the kingdom “in debates on logic and love.” Kapila, on the other hand, is the son of an iron smith and is darker and “plain to look at.” Kapila excels in “deeds which require drive and daring,” including dancing and feats of strength. The Bhagavata describes how the world is in awe of their friendship, and sings that they are two friends of “one mind, one heart.”

At that moment, an actor screams in terror, running onstage. The Bhagavata tries to calm him, saying that there’s nothing to be afraid of on the stage. Only the musicians and audience are there. The actor explains that he was hurrying on his way to perform when he had to go to the bathroom. With nowhere to go, he sat by the side of the road, when a voice told him not to do that. He looked around and didn’t see anybody. He attempted to go again, but the voice once again chastised him. He looked up to find a talking horse in front of him.

The Bhagavata does not believe the actor and tells him to get into costume and makeup. The actor shows the Bhagavata his shaking hands, saying that he is too terrified to perform or fight with a sword. The Bhagavata has no choice but to send him back to make sure that there was no talking horse. The actor reluctantly goes.

The Bhagavata once again tries to return to his story, but the actor rushes back on, crying that the creature is coming. The Bhagavata reasons that if the actor is so frightened, they should try to hide the creature from the audience. Accordingly, two stage hands hold up a curtain. At that moment, the creature (Hayavadana) enters and stands behind the curtain. The audience hears the sound of someone sobbing. The Bhagavata orders the stage hands to lower the curtain. Each time the curtain is lowered just enough to show Hayavadana’s head, he ducks behind it. Eventually, Hayavadana is revealed in his full form: half-horse, half-man.

The Bhagavata remains in disbelief and chides Hayavadana for trying to scare people with a mask. He asks Hayavadana to take off his mask, but when Hayavadana does not reply, he tries to pull off Hayavadana’s head with the help of the actor. Eventually, however, he concedes that it must be Hayavadana’s real head.

The Bhagavata asks Hayavadana who he is, and what brought him to this place. Hayavadana answers that all his life he has been trying to get rid of his horse’s head, and he thought the Bhagavata might be able to help him. He explains that his mother was a princess, and when she came of age she was meant to choose her own husband. Many princes came for her hand in marriage, but she didn’t like any of them. When the prince of Araby arrived on his great white stallion, she fainted. Her father decided that this was the man to marry her, but when the princess woke up, she insisted she would only marry the horse.

Hayavadana continues his story, saying that no one could dissuade his mother from her decision, and so she and the horse had fifteen years of happy marriage. One morning, the horse turned into a Celestial Being. He had been cursed to be born a horse by another god, on the condition that after fifteen years of human love he could regain his divine form. He asked the princess to join him in his “Heavenly Abode,” but the princess would only go with him if he returned to horse form. Thus, he cursed her to become a horse herself. She ran away happily, and Hayavadana was left behind as a product of their marriage.

Hayavadana asks the Bhagavata how he can get rid of his head, but the Bhagavata replies that “what’s written on our foreheads cannot be altered.” Hayavadana says that he had tried to become a complete man by taking an interest in “the social life of the Nation,” but that he was unable to find his society. He wonders how he can become a complete man without a complete society.

The Bhagavata suggests that Hayavadana go to various temples and try to make a vow to a god. Hayavadana says that he has tried everything, but the Bhagavata thinks of one more temple he might try: that of the goddess Kali. He says that thousands of people used to flock to her temple, but people stopped going because they discovered that she granted anything anyone asked. Hayavadana and the actor set off for the temple.

The Bhagavata returns to the story he had been trying to tell, providing a short summary of the plot that is about to unfold: the two friends, Devadatta and Kapila, who are of “one mind, one heart,” met a girl (Padmini) and “forgot themselves” as a result, but ultimately neither of them could “understand the song she sang.” He then describes a scene in which the woman holds the decapitated heads of the two men, covering herself in their blood as she dances and sings.

The female chorus then begins to sing, asking through various metaphors why someone’s love should be limited to one other person.

Devadatta and Kapila then enter the stage. Devadatta is described as a “slender, delicate-looking person” and he wears a pale colored mask. Kapila, for his part, is “powerfully built” and wears a dark mask.

Kapila asks his friend why he didn’t come to the gymnasium the night before. Devadatta is distracted and responds that he was working. As Kapila describes a wrestling match that he had won, he notices that Devadatta isn’t paying much attention and assumes that he has fallen in love again. Devadatta tries to convince him that this girl is especially important to him and rattles off poetry about her, but Kapila interrupts and finishes his thought for him, demonstrating how many times Devadatta has repeated these sentiments. Devadatta becomes angry with Kapila for not taking his feelings seriously, and questions his friendship. Kapila affirms that he would die for Devadatta, jumping into a well or walking into fire.

Devadatta, convinced that his friend actually does understand him, tries to explain his love further. When he begins to reveal his feelings more fully through new poetry, Kapila eventually realizes that this girl must be particularly special. Devadatta is upset because he believes she is beyond his reach, and vows that if he were to marry her, he would sacrifice his arms and his head to the gods.

Kapila offers to try to find the girl for him. Devadatta tells him that he had followed her home from the market the previous evening, so he knows that she lives somewhere in Pavana Veethi. The only thing Devadatta remembers about the house is that it had an engraving of a two-headed bird at the top of the door frame. Kapila goes off immediately to find her house and discover her name. Devadatta remarks to himself how good a friend Kapila is, but after a moment he wonders if it is actually a good idea to send Kapila in his place, as he is “too rough, too indelicate.”

Kapila goes to Pavana Veethi, the street of merchants. He passes many enormous houses, searching for the one that has the two-headed bird. When he finds the right house, he knocks on the door to try and find out who lives there. When the girl (named Padmini) answers the door, he is immediately love-struck. Padmini asks him what he wants, outwitting him as he tries to come up with reasons why he is there. She asks him if his eyes work, and then asks why, if he knew which house he wanted, he was peering at all the doors. She refuses to get the master of the house for him, or her father or brother, and Kapila is left in a desperate state as he tries to avoid revealing why he has knocked on the door.

Kapila eventually asks Padmini if she knows of Devadatta. She asks what Devadatta is to Kapila, to which Kapila replies that he is the greatest friend in the world, and adds, “but the main question now: what’s he going to be to you?” Padmini blushes at this and goes off to find her mother. When he leaves, Kapila says to himself that Padmini really needs a man of steel, and that Devadatta is too sensitive for someone as quick and sharp as she is.

The Bhagavata explains that a match between Padmini and Devadatta had no obstacles because both families were of high status: her family was very wealthy, while his family was very intellectual. They are married quickly and the Bhagavata explains that the friendship between the two of them and Kapila continues to be strong.

The plot skips forwards six months. Padmini is pregnant and she, Devadatta, and Kapila are taking a trip to Ujjain. Devadatta reveals that he is he is nervous about her traveling while pregnant, and she in turn teases him that he is so protective of her that one might think she was the first woman to ever become pregnant. She comments that she only has to stumble for Devadatta to act like she has lost their child. Devadatta becomes very upset at this kind of teasing.

As they talk, Devadatta reveals his jealousy of Kapila and of the attention Padmini gives him. He thinks that she drools over him, and was unhappy when she invited him to the house when Devadatta wanted to read a play to her, because when Kapila arrived there was no chance of reading the play. Padmini asks if Devadatta is jealous of Kapila, which Devadatta adamantly denies. Devadatta has also noticed that Kapila, too, seems to light up every time he sees Padmini, describing how he “begins to wag his tail” and “sits up on his hind legs.” Devadatta wonders to himself how she could not have noticed this.

Padmini tries to appease Devadatta and suggests that they cancel the trip and spend the day together instead, assuring Devadatta that she will not be too disappointed. When Kapila arrives, Devadatta tells him that Padmini is not well. Kapila privately expresses his disappointment that he won’t be able to spend time with Padmini. However, when Padmini sees Kapila she changes her mind again so as not to disappoint him, and tells Kapila to pack the cart. Devadatta is hurt by this change of heart.

The three of them set out in the cart, and Padmini remarks how smoothly Kapila drives the cart. She relates an anecdote about how, soon after they were married, Devadatta tried to drive her to a lake outside the city, but failed to steer the oxen beyond the city gates and so Devadatta had to bring them back home, angry and embarrassed.

Padmini spots a tree with beautiful flowers, called the Fortunate Lady’s flower, and Kapila immediately dashes off to climb the tree and retrieve some of the flowers for her. She remarks to herself how muscular Kapila’s body is, and Devadatta notices Padmini staring at Kapila. He burns with jealousy as he observes her, but doesn’t say anything, and instead simply forces himself to watch her watching Kapila. Meanwhile, Padmini worries that Devadatta is watching her and sees her love for Kapila. She asks herself how much longer she can go on like this.

Kapila returns with the Fortunate Lady’s flowers. Padmini asks why the flowers are called that, and he explains that the flowers have all the markings of a married woman, such as the marks on her forehead, the parting of her hair, and dots that look like a necklace. Padmini turns to Devadatta and says that he should use those descriptions in his poetry. Devadatta tries to shift the dynamic by asking them to keep traveling, but Padmini remarks that she’d like to spend the night where they have stopped because of the various sites around them, including the temple of Rudra and the temple of Kali.

Kapila and Padmini decide to visit the temple of Rudra, but Devadatta, still upset, says that he doesn’t want to go and will watch the cart. Kapila senses the tension and offers to stay instead, but Devadatta insists that the two of them go ahead. Padmini is frustrated at this tantrum and decides she will go without Devadatta. At an impasse, Kapila goes with Padmini to the temple.

Devadatta says goodbye to Padmini and Kapila, and says to himself that he hopes they live happily together. Remembering his vow to sacrifice his arms and head, Devadatta goes off to temple of Kali. He shouts a short, anguished prayer in which he says that his head will be an offering to the goddess, and then fulfills his promise by cutting off his head (the actor’s mask), which involves some struggle.

Padmini and Kapila return from the temple of Rudra. They begin to worry about Devadatta when they cannot find him, and so Kapila follows his footprints to Kali’s temple. When he discovers Devadatta’s body, he is filled with anguish at his friend’s death, and asks the dead Devadatta whether he forgot that Kapila would have done anything for him. He admits that he knows he did wrong, but confesses that he didn’t have the intelligence to do anything else. Kapila says he cannot go on living without his friend, and decides to join him in the next life. He then cuts off his own head. After a while, it begins to get dark, and Padmini gets worried, noticing that Kapila has disappeared, too. She goes to look for them both at the temple, where she stumbles upon the bodies of the two men and screams in horror.

In despair, Padmini asks how the two of them could have left her alone. She worries that if she goes home, society will say that the two men fought and died for a “whore.” She resolves to join the men in the afterlife as well and picks up a sword to kill herself, but Kali stops her. Kali reveals her annoyance that the men didn’t care about sacrificing their heads to her at all, but simply wanted to escape their situations. Kali tells Padmini that she will revive the two men if Padmini places their heads back on their bodies. Padmini, in her excitement, accidentally switches Devadatta’s and Kapila’s heads (in the play, this is accomplished with the masks).

When Kali revives Devadatta and Kapila, they (along with Padmini) quickly realize that something is wrong. Padmini explains what has happened. At first they are amused at the mix-up, singing a childish song and falling on the ground with laughter. When they try to leave, however, conflict ensues as each man tries to argue that Padmini is his wife and should come with him. Devadatta (that is, the man with Devadatta’s head) argues that the head rules the body and that one marries a personality, not a body. Kapila argues that his hand accepted hers at the wedding, that his body is the body she has lived with for months, and that his body gave Padmini her child—and therefore he is now her husband.

The argument between the two men begins to heat up. When Devadatta pushes Kapila aside to take Padmini home, Kapila asks Padmini if Devadatta would ever have been so violent. Padmini begins to go with Devadatta, and Kapila taunts Padmini by saying that she only wants his body and Devadatta’s mind. The Bhagavata interjects, wondering what the solution is to this problem, and the curtain falls on the end of act one.