Hayavadana: Act 2 Summary & Analysis

Act two opens with the Bhagavata repeating his question about the solution to the problem of the mixed-up heads. He describes how Padmini, Devadatta, and Kapila consult a rishi (i.e., a sage) about their problem. The rishi tells them that the head does in fact rule the body, and thus the man with Devadatta’s head is Padmini’s husband. The couple celebrates, and Padmini is particularly joyful about Devadatta’s new body. She tries to console Kapila, reminding him that she is going with his body. Devadatta and Padmini return to their home, while Kapila returns to the forest and disappears.

Back at Padmini and Devadatta’s house, the two are happier than ever. Devadatta buys dolls for their unborn child at a fair, which pleases Padmini. He recounts to her that on the way to the fair he passed by a wrestler and was moved immediately to challenge him, pinning him to the ground within minutes, even though he had never wrestled before. Padmini marvels at his fabulous strength.

The dolls (who are played by children) address the audience, remarking on the beauty of the house and saying that they deserve the best. The dolls describe how the mothers and children stared at them at the fair with desire. They also comment on how rough Devadatta’s hands are, and say that he doesn’t deserve the dolls.

Time passes and Devadatta and Padmini’s baby is born. Devadatta addresses the Bhagavata directly for the first time, inviting him to the feast they are having. The Bhagavata notes that he hadn’t heard about the feast, or of their son being born.

The dolls note how they are ignored while the baby gets all the attention. They confess that they should have been wary of Padmini when she was pregnant, swelling up with the baby. They comment on how ugly she looked, though they remark that she is not ugly to Devadatta.

Another six months pass, and Padmini and Devadatta are fighting over how to treat their son. Padmini wants to take him to the lake, but Devadatta thinks that it would be too cold to swim. Padmini believes that Devadatta is too protective of him. When Devadatta touches Padmini, she shudders and get goose bumps. Shortly after, Devadatta grabs one of the dolls, who also shudders. The dolls explain that his body is returning to its soft, weak state.

Padmini sings a lullaby to her son about a rider on a white stallion, and falls asleep. The dolls narrate her dreams, describing the appearance of a man whose face is rough but whose body is soft. They say it is someone who is “not her husband,” revealing that she is dreaming of Kapila.

More time has passed, and Devadatta has returned to his original form: soft-bodied and lacking muscle. A stage direction notes that the actor who originally portrayed Devadatta now returns to that mask/role. The dolls imply that Padmini’s dreams have become particularly sexually explicit, and they fight over who gets to tell the audience, tearing each other’s clothes and scratching each other. This leads Padmini to remark that their son’s dolls have become tattered. She asks Devadatta to travel to buy new ones.

While Devadatta travels to get new dolls, Padmini goes into the forest with her son. She imagines the “witching fair,” making up stories about the activities of the forest. Before leaving, she reveals that she must do one other thing: say hello to the tree of the Fortunate Lady.

In another part of the forest, Kapila enters, and the Bhagavata is surprised to see him living in the jungle. The Bhagavata tells Kapila that Padmini has given birth to her son, and notices how angry Kapila looks by the way he stands and moves. Kapila says that the Bhagavata’s comments are merely poetry.

Padmini finds Kapila in the forest. He confesses that he has worked hard to get his body back into shape, almost torturing himself. He is also haunted by memories that belonged to Devadatta’s body—memories of things he never experienced, like being intimate with Padmini. He is distressed that she is bringing all these memories back. She says that he should be able to experience the things in those memories, too, and caresses his face. The two of them go into Kapila’s hut together.

Devadatta, who has returned with new dolls, searches for Padmini and runs into the Bhagavata. The Bhagavata is surprised to see him, and reluctantly reveals that Padmini has now spent four nights in Kapila’s hut.

Devadatta finds Padmini and Kapila, and the three are forced to confront their situation together. Kapila asks if they could live together as three, but the men quickly reject this idea. Devadatta and Kapila realize that the only way to end their incomplete existence is to kill each other. They agree to fight to the death. Their fight is stylized, almost like a dance, as the Bhagavata sings. Kapila wounds Devadatta, who falls to his knees and stabs Kapila. They continue to fight on their knees before they succumb to their wounds and die.

Padmini is once again left behind. She wonders whether she should have said she would live with Devadatta and Kapila both, but acknowledges that they could not have lived together. She decides to perform sati and burn herself on their funeral pyre. She tells the Bhagavata to take her son to the hunters who live in the forest, and then once he reaches five years old to return him to his grandfather in the city. She performs sati as the stage hands lift a curtain with flames on it higher and higher, and the female chorus repeats its opening song asking why one cannot love more than one person. They refer to Padmini as the Fortunate Lady, and the Bhagavata reveals that that tree now stands on the spot where it is believed that Padmini died.

As the story seemingly concludes, the Bhagavata is interrupted once again, this time by a second actor who screams that he has seen a horse (who turns out to be Hayavadana) singing the national anthem.

The first actor also returns to the stage, this time with a young boy clutching a pair of dolls. The boy does not smile, laugh, or talk. He only reacts violently when someone tries to touch his dolls. The Bhagavata realizes that it is Padmini’s son.

At that moment, Hayavadana returns, this time with a horse body as well as a horse head. He explains that he asked Kali to make him complete, but she cut off his request and made him a complete horse instead of a complete man. He is upset that he still has a human voice, however.

The young boy starts laughing at Hayavadana, startling the Bhagavata and the actors. Hayavadana remarks that he was trying to sing the national anthem because the national anthem ruins people’s voices. Instead he and the boy sing together the lullaby that Padmini had sung to him about the rider on the white stallion.

The Bhagavata remarks how beautiful the child’s laughter is, though Hayavadana is skeptical of that kind of sentimentality. As the boy and Hayavadana continue to laugh, Hayavadana’s laugh changes into a horse’s neigh. Thus, he finally becomes complete.

The Bhagavata concludes the story by praying once again to Ganesha, and all the other characters and actors join him in prayer. They thank the god for the successful completion of the play and, as a final request, ask him to give the rulers of the country success and “a little bit of sense.”