Hayavadana

by

Girish Karnad

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Hayavadana Character Analysis

Hayavadana’s name is apt, as it literally means “horse face.” Hayavadana interrupts the main action of the play to explain his origin story to the Bhagavata. He is the product of a marriage between a princess and a Celestial Being in horse form. He is desperate to try and get rid of his horse’s head and become a whole man. He travels to the goddess Kali’s temple to ask to become a complete man, but instead she turns him into a complete horse. He is happy to be a complete being, but laments that he retains his human voice. When a young boy enters the scene and begins to laugh at him and sing with him, he is able to lose his human voice, and thereby becomes a complete horse.

Hayavadana Quotes in Hayavadana

The Hayavadana quotes below are all either spoken by Hayavadana or refer to Hayavadana. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Identity, Hybridity, and Incompleteness Theme Icon
).
Act 1 Quotes

BHAGAVATA: Hayavadana, what's written on our foreheads cannot be altered.

HAYAVADANA: [slapping himself on the forehead] But what a forehead! What a forehead! If it was a forehead like yours, I would have accepted anything. But this! I have tried to accept my fate. My personal life has naturally been blameless. So I took interest in the social life of the Nation—Civics, Politics, Patriotism, Nationalism, Indianization, the Socialist Pattern of Society. . . I have tried everything! But where's my society? Where? You must help me to become a complete man, Bhagavata Sir. But how? What can I do?

Related Characters: The Bhagavata (speaker), Hayavadana (speaker)
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2 Quotes

That’s why I sing all these patriotic songs—and the National Anthem! That particularly! I have noticed that the people singing the National Anthem always seem to have ruined their voices—So I try.

Related Characters: Hayavadana (speaker)
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:

What’s there in a song, Hayavadana? The real beauty lies in the child’s laughter—in the innocent joy of that laughter. No tragedy can touch it.

Related Characters: The Bhagavata (speaker), Hayavadana, Boy
Page Number: 70
Explanation and Analysis:
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Hayavadana PDF

Hayavadana Quotes in Hayavadana

The Hayavadana quotes below are all either spoken by Hayavadana or refer to Hayavadana. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Identity, Hybridity, and Incompleteness Theme Icon
).
Act 1 Quotes

BHAGAVATA: Hayavadana, what's written on our foreheads cannot be altered.

HAYAVADANA: [slapping himself on the forehead] But what a forehead! What a forehead! If it was a forehead like yours, I would have accepted anything. But this! I have tried to accept my fate. My personal life has naturally been blameless. So I took interest in the social life of the Nation—Civics, Politics, Patriotism, Nationalism, Indianization, the Socialist Pattern of Society. . . I have tried everything! But where's my society? Where? You must help me to become a complete man, Bhagavata Sir. But how? What can I do?

Related Characters: The Bhagavata (speaker), Hayavadana (speaker)
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2 Quotes

That’s why I sing all these patriotic songs—and the National Anthem! That particularly! I have noticed that the people singing the National Anthem always seem to have ruined their voices—So I try.

Related Characters: Hayavadana (speaker)
Page Number: 69
Explanation and Analysis:

What’s there in a song, Hayavadana? The real beauty lies in the child’s laughter—in the innocent joy of that laughter. No tragedy can touch it.

Related Characters: The Bhagavata (speaker), Hayavadana, Boy
Page Number: 70
Explanation and Analysis: