Hayavadana

by

Girish Karnad

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Padmini Character Analysis

Padmini is the spark that ignites the rivalry between Devadatta and Kapila. She marries Devadatta because she loves his mind, but she quickly realizes how sensitive Devadatta is when she makes harsh, teasing comments (a fact that Kapila understood when he met her for the first time). Even while she is pregnant with Devadatta’s child, she begins to pine for Kapila’s muscular body, and it is her split desire which causes Devadatta to kill himself, followed quickly by Kapila. When Padmini switches the men’s heads accidentally, she appears to get the best of both worlds now that Devadatta’s head is attached to Kapila’s body, but as the men’s bodies slowly return to their former states, she begins to yearn again for a different life. When the two men kill each other at the end of the play, she laments that they have once again left her all alone. She tells the Bhagavata to take care of her son and performs sati, throwing herself on the funeral pyre. Her storyline dramatizes the ways in which the mind—and tools of rationality more generally—can be irreconcilably at odds with the desires of the body.

Padmini Quotes in Hayavadana

The Hayavadana quotes below are all either spoken by Padmini or refer to Padmini. 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

Two friends there were—one mind, one heart. They saw a girl and forgot themselves. But they could not understand the song she sang.

Related Characters: The Bhagavata (speaker), Devadatta, Kapila, Padmini
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:

Why should love stick to the sap of a single body? When the stem is drunk with the thick yearning of the many-petalled, many-flowered lantana, why should it be tied down to the relation of a single flower?

Related Characters: Female chorus (speaker), Padmini
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:

DEVADATTA: Kapila, with you as my witness I swear, if I ever get her as my wife, I’ll sacrifice my two arms to the goddess Kali. I’ll sacrifice my head to Lord Rudra…

KAPILA: Ts! Ts! [Aside.] This is a serious situation.

Related Characters: Devadatta (speaker), Kapila (speaker), Padmini
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:

Devadatta, my friend, I confess to you I’m feeling uneasy. You are a gentle soul. You can’t bear a bitter word or an evil thought. But this one is fast as lightning—and as sharp. She is not for the likes of you. What she needs is a man of steel.

Related Characters: Kapila (speaker), Devadatta, Padmini
Page Number: 19
Explanation and Analysis:

Why do you tremble, heart? Why do you cringe like a touch-me-not bush through which a snake has passed?

The sun rests his head on the Fortunate Lady’s flower.

And the head is bidding good-bye to the heart.

Related Characters: The Bhagavata (speaker), Devadatta, Kapila, Padmini
Related Symbols: The Fortunate Lady’s Flower
Page Number: 24-25
Explanation and Analysis:

What a good mix!

No more tricks!

Is this one that

or that one this?

Related Characters: Devadatta (speaker), Kapila (speaker), Padmini (speaker)
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:

KAPILA. [Raising his right hand.] This is the hand that accepted her at the wedding. This is the body she’s lived with all these months. And the child she’s carrying is the seed of this body.

Related Characters: Kapila (speaker), Devadatta, Padmini
Page Number: 36-37
Explanation and Analysis:

Of all the human limbs the topmost—in position as well as in importance—is the head. I have Devadatta’s head, and it follows that I am Devadatta.

Related Characters: Devadatta (speaker), Kapila, Padmini
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2 Quotes

Kapila? What could he be doing now? Where could he be? Could his body be fair still, and his face dark? [Long pause.] Devadatta changes. Kapila changes. And me?

Related Characters: Padmini (speaker), Devadatta, Kapila
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:

DOLL II: Especially last night—I mean—that dream…

DOLL I: Tut-tut—One shouldn't talk about such things!

DOLL II: It was so shameless…

DOLL I: I said be quiet…

DOLL II: Honestly! The way they…

DOLL I: Look, if we must talk about it, let me.

DOLL II: You didn't want to talk about it. So…

Related Characters: Dolls (speaker), Kapila, Padmini
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:

KAPILA: The moment it came to me, a war started between us.

PADMINI: And who won?

KAPILA: I did.

PADMINI: The head always wins, doesn’t it?

Related Characters: Kapila (speaker), Padmini (speaker), Devadatta
Page Number: 55
Explanation and Analysis:

Isn’t that surprising? That the body should have its own ghosts—its own memories?

Related Characters: Kapila (speaker), Devadatta, Padmini
Page Number: 57
Explanation and Analysis:

I know it in my blood you couldn’t have lived together. Because you knew death you died in each other’s arms. You could only have lived ripping each other to pieces. I had to drive you to death. You forgave each other, but again—left me out.

Related Characters: Padmini (speaker), Devadatta, Kapila
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
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Padmini Quotes in Hayavadana

The Hayavadana quotes below are all either spoken by Padmini or refer to Padmini. 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

Two friends there were—one mind, one heart. They saw a girl and forgot themselves. But they could not understand the song she sang.

Related Characters: The Bhagavata (speaker), Devadatta, Kapila, Padmini
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:

Why should love stick to the sap of a single body? When the stem is drunk with the thick yearning of the many-petalled, many-flowered lantana, why should it be tied down to the relation of a single flower?

Related Characters: Female chorus (speaker), Padmini
Page Number: 11
Explanation and Analysis:

DEVADATTA: Kapila, with you as my witness I swear, if I ever get her as my wife, I’ll sacrifice my two arms to the goddess Kali. I’ll sacrifice my head to Lord Rudra…

KAPILA: Ts! Ts! [Aside.] This is a serious situation.

Related Characters: Devadatta (speaker), Kapila (speaker), Padmini
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:

Devadatta, my friend, I confess to you I’m feeling uneasy. You are a gentle soul. You can’t bear a bitter word or an evil thought. But this one is fast as lightning—and as sharp. She is not for the likes of you. What she needs is a man of steel.

Related Characters: Kapila (speaker), Devadatta, Padmini
Page Number: 19
Explanation and Analysis:

Why do you tremble, heart? Why do you cringe like a touch-me-not bush through which a snake has passed?

The sun rests his head on the Fortunate Lady’s flower.

And the head is bidding good-bye to the heart.

Related Characters: The Bhagavata (speaker), Devadatta, Kapila, Padmini
Related Symbols: The Fortunate Lady’s Flower
Page Number: 24-25
Explanation and Analysis:

What a good mix!

No more tricks!

Is this one that

or that one this?

Related Characters: Devadatta (speaker), Kapila (speaker), Padmini (speaker)
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:

KAPILA. [Raising his right hand.] This is the hand that accepted her at the wedding. This is the body she’s lived with all these months. And the child she’s carrying is the seed of this body.

Related Characters: Kapila (speaker), Devadatta, Padmini
Page Number: 36-37
Explanation and Analysis:

Of all the human limbs the topmost—in position as well as in importance—is the head. I have Devadatta’s head, and it follows that I am Devadatta.

Related Characters: Devadatta (speaker), Kapila, Padmini
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2 Quotes

Kapila? What could he be doing now? Where could he be? Could his body be fair still, and his face dark? [Long pause.] Devadatta changes. Kapila changes. And me?

Related Characters: Padmini (speaker), Devadatta, Kapila
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:

DOLL II: Especially last night—I mean—that dream…

DOLL I: Tut-tut—One shouldn't talk about such things!

DOLL II: It was so shameless…

DOLL I: I said be quiet…

DOLL II: Honestly! The way they…

DOLL I: Look, if we must talk about it, let me.

DOLL II: You didn't want to talk about it. So…

Related Characters: Dolls (speaker), Kapila, Padmini
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:

KAPILA: The moment it came to me, a war started between us.

PADMINI: And who won?

KAPILA: I did.

PADMINI: The head always wins, doesn’t it?

Related Characters: Kapila (speaker), Padmini (speaker), Devadatta
Page Number: 55
Explanation and Analysis:

Isn’t that surprising? That the body should have its own ghosts—its own memories?

Related Characters: Kapila (speaker), Devadatta, Padmini
Page Number: 57
Explanation and Analysis:

I know it in my blood you couldn’t have lived together. Because you knew death you died in each other’s arms. You could only have lived ripping each other to pieces. I had to drive you to death. You forgave each other, but again—left me out.

Related Characters: Padmini (speaker), Devadatta, Kapila
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis: