Act-wise summary of Hayavadana

 

Act-wise summary of Hayavadana 
                         -Girish Karnad

About the Author

—  Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer, playwright and a Rhodes Scholar, who predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood.

—  He was a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour conferred in India.

—  Hayavadana won the Sangeet Natak Akaddemi Award and the Kamaladevi Award of the Bharatiya Natya Sangh for best Indian play.

Plays Translated in English

—  Tughlaq, Oxford University Press.

—  Hayavadana, Oxford University Press.

—  Yayati, Oxford University Press.

—  Nagamandala: Play with Cobra, Oxford University Press.

—  Fire and the Rain, Oxford University Press, 1998.

—  Bali : The Sacrifice, Oxford University Press.

—  Tale Danda, Oxford University Press.

—  Wedding Album, Oxford University Press, 2006.

—  Boiled Beans on Toast, Oxford University Press, 2014.

—  Crossing to Talikota, Oxford University Press, 2019.

—  Collected Plays, Vol.1, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2005 (Tughlaq, Hayavadana, Bali: The Sacrifice, and Naga Mandala)

—  Collected Plays, Vol.2, Oxford University Press, 2005 (Tale-Danda, The Fire and the Rain, The Dreams of Tipu Sultan, Two Monologues: Flowers and Broken Images)

About Hayavadana

—  Hayavadana is a 1971 play in two Acts. It tells the story of best friends and their love, as well as that of a man in the story with the face of a horse (the title of the okat means “one with a horse’s head”) who is seeking to become human.

—  Karnad was inspired by Thomas Mann's The Transposed Heads, which in turn was inspired by an eleventh-century Sanskrit text called the Kathasaritsagara. 

—  Hayavadana was originally written in Karnad's second language, Kannada, and he translated it into English himself. It was originally published in Enact, and came out in an edition by Oxford University Press in 1975 in the New Drama in India series.

Character List

—  Bhagavata in Hinduism is a worshiper; in this case he is also the play's narrator and he gives the audience a synopsis of the characters' lives before the start of the play.

—  Devadatta

One of the play's two main protagonists, Devadatta is a fair and slender man who is smart as a whip. His father is a Brahmin and he is both poet and political observer. He is close friends with Kapila at the start and the end of the play but feels a great deal of jealousy

—  Kapila

—  A muscular, dark man, Kapila is the son of an ironsmith, and he is the brawn to Devaratta's brains. He is a man of courage and he has great daring and a sense of adventure. 

—  Padmini

—  Padmini is a beautiful young woman who is the object of desire of both Devadatta and Kapila. She chooses Devadatta because she is attracted by his intelligence but she comes to realize that her sharp tongue is too much for his sensitive nature. She is also very attracted to the physicality of Kapila.

—  Hayavadana

                He is a man with the head of a horse—or a horse with the body of a man, depending on your perspective, born from a woman who married a horse and bore his son.

—  Child

                The child is the son of Padmini and Devadatta, given to be raised by hunters until he is five, and then Devadatta's father, the Revered Brahmin

—  Actor I & II

—  Kali

Summary – Act 1

—  Act 1

Bhagavata, a stage player enters the stage and raises some rhetorical questions on the perfection and imperfection in context to Gods and humans. Puja is done. He tells an anecdote of two best friends namely Devadatta (man of mind) and Kapila (man of the body).  As the play is about to begin an actor (Actor-1), who was supposed to perform, comes running towards Bhagavata and is quite frightened. Upon asking, he tells that while he was defecating, a horse taunted him by talking in a human voice. Bhagavata does not believe him. While they are arguing, the horse namely Hayavadana enters the stage who has a head of the human and body of a horse. His look astonishes the audience. Bhagavata enquires Hayavadana about its condition, suspecting that some curse might have fallen on him.  However, Hayavadana rejecting his opinion tells that his mother, a princess fell in love with a horse. After 15 years the horse attained the human shape. Princess did not accept him in the human figure. Thus he cursed her and she became a horse and later on gave birth to Hayavadana. Bhagavata suggests him to visit the Kali temple as the Goddess Kali is believed to cure all such diseases.  He also asks Actor-1 to accompany Hayavadana. They depart and Bhagavata begins the play. Devadatta is sitting on a chair. Kapila, his best friend comes and finding him in quite a miserable condition asks about the cause. Devadatta requests him to leave him alone. Kapila guesses that Devadatta might have fallen in love again as he had fallen 15 times before within two years and thus this condition of his is not unusual.  However, when Devadatta shows his seriousness towards his love, Kapila also becomes serious. Devadatta gives clues about the residence of the girl and Kapila sets out for her search. He succeeds in finding her (Padmini) at last and talks to her about Devadatta. Through the efforts of Kapila, Devadatta and Padmini get married.  However, in a course of time, Padmini gets attracted towards the Kapila because of his strong body and Devadatta becomes aware of it. One day the three decide to visit some fair in Ujjain.

On the way, Devadatta asks Kapila and Padmini to visit some temple. They resist but Devadatta          does not listen to them and both go away ultimately. Devadatta then goes to Mother Kali’s temple and beheads himself as he cannot live without his wife as well as his friend. Kapila and Padmini return and find Devadatta missing. Kapila sets out in his search and found him lying dead, he also beheads himself. Padmini after waiting for long also starts searching for them and finding them dead, she also decides to end her life, but she is stopped by Goddess Kali who in a mocking way insults both Devadatta and Kapila for killing themselves not in her name but for selfishness reasons (Devadatta kills himself in the name of Padmini and Kapila kills himself for his friend). Goddess Kali gives Padmini an opportunity to bring both of them back to life. In haste, Padmini mixes up the heads of both. As a result, Devadatta’s head is fitted on the body of Kapila and vice-versa. Goddess Kali knows the intentions of Padmini and says that humans can never give up selfishness. They all laugh but soon a quarrel arises between the two friends over the matter whom does Padmini belong to. Having failed to find any solution the three go to an old sage who declares that the man having Devadatta’s head is the rightful husband of Padmini.  Both Padmini and Devadatta return back happily. However, Kapila being deeply hurt decides to remain in the forest in solitude.

Summary – Act 2

After some months Padmini becomes pregnant. After some months, Devadatta’s body starts assuming its original shape that weakens the love of Padmini for him. Their relationship loses affection and both quarrel often. One day she, along with her child, goes to the forest to meet Kapila who does not like her coming and asks her to go back. But she insists telling him that he is the rightful father of the child. She also asks him to complete the uncompleted love by sleeping with him. Kapila cannot resist and both start love-making. Meanwhile, Devadatta also comes to the forest with a sword. However, his wrath vanishes when he sees Kapila waiting for him. Both are convinced that they cannot solve the matter of Padmini and thus decide to end their life by fighting.  A fierce fight starts between the two friends and both are killed. Padmini hands over the child to a tribe requesting him to handover him to Bhagavata and herself commits Sati along with the pyre of the two. Play ends Actor (Actor-2) comes running and tells Bhagavata that he has seen a horse reciting National Anthem of India. While Bhagavata is in confusion, Actor 1 arrives with a child who was handed over to him by the tribe in the forest (who cannot speak) while he had gone with Hayavadhana. He tells Bhagavata that on the way Hayavadhana left him alone and he returned back. That patriotic horse also comes and Bhagavata at once recognizes him as Hayavadana. Hayavadana tells Bhagavata that Goddess Kali instead of giving him the shape of humans made him a complete horse. However, he still has the voice of humans and he wants to get rid of it. He has heard that those who sing patriotic songs have the worst voice. This is why he was singing National Anthem of India so that he might lose it. Hayavadana starts singing songs and suddenly starts laughing. Seeing him laughing, the child also starts laughing and consequently their voices are interchanged. the boy gets human voice and Hayavadana, the voice of the horse.  Concluding Puja is performed. 

 

The Trumpet Club by Richard Steele

 

The Trumpet Club      - Richard Steele

Richard Steele’s ‘The Trumpet Club’ originally consisted of fifteen members. Then, they had been reduced to five in number. The members are, Jeoffery Notch, Major Matchlock, Honest Old Nick Reptile, Bencher and Roger, the narrator. Usually these members meet at six o’ clock in the evenings. This meeting will go upto10 O’ clock. The Trumpet Club was in Shire Lane, London. Apart from reading, the Spectator used to listen to the conversation of his companions at the club.  Their conversation would be a kind of preparative for sleep. It would take the mind from its abstractions. It would lead him into the familiar traces of thought. It would lull him into tranquility.

The first member of the club was Sir Jeoffery Notch. He was the oldest of the club. He was the present Foreman of the club. He used to stir the fire with his poker and make it burn brightly. It was the privilege of the oldest member. He was a gentleman of an ancient family. He got the possession of ancestral property in a young age. He spent his wealth in fashionable pursuits like, horse-racing and cock-fighting.

The second member of the club was Major Matchbox. He was the next senior man in the club. He served in the last civil wars. He had all the battles by heart. He always talked about the fight of Marston Moor, the place in which the Royalists were defeated. He would also talk about the insurrection that took place in 1647 when the apprentices, to get their grievances redressed, rushed into the House of Parliament.

The third member of the club was Nick ‘Reptile. He was good natured indolent man. He spoke little to himself. He used to laugh at others’ jokes. He used to bring his young nephew along with him, who was eighteen years old.

The fourth member of the club was a Bencher, who was the greatest wit of the Trumpet Club. He used to visit the ordinaries about Charing-cross. He pretended to be intimate with Jack Ogle, a gamester. He used to quote ‘Hudibras’ as he memorized the couplets. He used to shake his head at the dullness of the present age.

The fifth member of the club was the Spectator. He was respected among the members of the club. He was considered a man of great deal of learning. The major used to call him a philosopher.

 

The Tyger

-          William Blake

William Blake is the author of the poem ‘The Tyger’. He is considered to be a pioneer of the Romantic Movement. ‘The Tyger’ belongs to a collection of his poems entitled “Songs of Experience”. In this poem Blake admires the creator (God) and his creation (tiger).

First, the poet is struck by the brightness of the tiger’s eyes. He says that the tiger’s eyes are ‘burning bright’ like re-hot coals glowing in fire. He wonders that such a fire in the eyes might have been taken from the ever-burning fire in hell or from the lightning flashing in the sky. Thus the tiger is associated with hell and heaven.

Next the poet admires the capacity of the Creator. He is amazed by the inordinate strength of the Creator. The Maker must have had powerful muscular shoulders and excellent artistic powers to design such an animal like tiger. He stresses that the Maker’s hand must have been dreadful to make the tiger’s heart and its body

The poet imagines the tools such as hammer, chain, anvil and furnace which the Maker could have used to make the animal. The tools must have been equally powerful as the Creation was a remarkable one. With a mixed mood of thrill and dread, the poet visualizes the moment when, after creating the tiger’s body. The Creator breathed life into it. God created the animal with joy but the angels filled with terror.  

The poet suggests two responses about the creation of the tiger. One is the shock and confusion of the angels, as they view the terrible tiger stalking freely. They threw down their spears at the tigers to safeguard themselves. Their efforts to kill the tiger end in vain. The angels are overcome by despair and shedding tears helplessly. God smiles at the angels because they do not understand the good that would be born out of the evil tiger in the long run.

In the end of the poem, the poet is puzzled by God’s creative act, because The God who made the Lamb, made the Tiger. The poet has many questions about God’s creation, so he ends the poem not with answer but with question.

                                                   ‘Did he who made the Lamb make thee?’

 

Adjectives

 

 Adjectives

Read these sentences.

1. Rose has a pink dress.
2. It was an interesting movie.
3. Father bought four chocolates.

1. In sentences (1), the word ‘pink’ tells us about the colour of the ‘dress’
2. In sentences (2), the word ‘interesting’ tells us about the kind of ‘movie’
3. In sentences (3), the word ‘four’ tells us about the number of ‘chocolates’.

 These words ‘pink’, ‘interesting’ and ‘four’ tell us more about the nouns ‘dress’, ‘movie’, and ‘chocolates’.

Adjectives are describing words that tell us more about persons, animals, places, and things.

Positions of Adjectives

Adjectives are usually placed before the nouns they describe.

Example: He is an old man.

Old – Adjectives , Man – Noun

However, sometimes, the adjective can be placed after a noun.

Example : The man is old.

Types of Adjectives

1. Adjectives of Quality

Read  the following sentences.

• This is a story book.

Story – tells us about the kind of book.

• Alia is a good dancer

Good – tells us about the kind of dancer

Adjectives of quality is an adjective that tells us about the kind or nature of a person, thing or animal. Examples : small, big and large.

It answers the question : what kind of?

2. Adjectives of Quantity

Read the following sentences.

• The teacher gave me some homework for Sunday.

Some – tells us about the quantity of homework.

• I have enough time to complete the work.

Enough – tells us about quantity of time.

An adjective of quantity is an adjective that tells us about the quantity of a thing. Examples : some, enough and much

It answers the question:  how much?

3. Adjectives of Number

Read these sentences.

• All the students were present at the event.

All – tells us about the number of students.

• They will return after two weeks.

Two – tells us about the number of week.

An adjective of number is an adjective that tells us about the number of persons, things or animals. Examples : one, two and many.

It answers the question : how many

Difference between Adjectives of Number and Adjectives of Quantity

• An adjective like ‘second’, ‘fourth’, ‘fifth’ are adjectives of number. They are called ordinal adjectives and show the order in which a person or thing stands.

• Some adjectives maybe both adjectives of quantity and adjective of number depending upon their use.

Examples :

1. I have enough work for the day.
2. I have read enough stories over the weekend.

1. In sentence (1), ‘enough’ tells us ‘how much work?’ So, it is an adjective of quantity.
2. In sentence (2). ‘enough’ tells us ‘how may stories?’ So, it is an adjective of number.

Let see some more examples.

Adjective of Quantity	Adjective of Number
Jacky wanted some money.	Some people want to meet you.
He drank all the water in the jug.	All the cows belonged to the farmer.

Some more difference between adjective of quantity and number which convey the same idea.

Little, Few

Both little and few convey the same idea. But little is an adjective of quantity, whereas few is an adjective of number. Little is used with uncountable nouns, few is used with countable nouns.

Much, Many

Much and many also convey the same idea. But much is an adjective of quantity, whereas many is an adjective of number.

4. Demonstrative Adjectives

Read these sentences.

• This bike is Rahul’s.

This – tells us which bike.

• I can see that mango tree.

That – tells us which mango tree.

The words ‘this’ and ‘that’ are adjectives since they describe ‘bike’ and ‘tree’ respectively. Demonstrative means pointing out.

A demonstrative adjective is an adjective that is used to point out naming words.

Examples:  this, that, these, those and such

It answers the question: which one?

• This and These are used to point out persons or things which are near.
• That and Those are used to point out persons or things that are far away.
• That and This are used with singular nouns.
• Those and These are used with plural nouns.

5. Interrogative Adjectives

Read these sentences.

• What animal is that?

• Whose book are you reading?

• Which dress do you want?

The words ‘What’, ‘Whose’, and ‘Which’ are adjectives since they describe the animal, book and dress respectively. As they ask questions, these adjectives are called interrogative adjectives.

An interrogative adjective is an adjective which asks a question.

Examples: what, whose and which

6. Possessive Adjectives

Read these sentences

• My book is lying on the table.

My – tells us whose book.

• They sold their house.

Their – tells us whose house.

‘My’ tells us that the book belongs to me or is possessed by me. ‘Their’ house means the house possessed by them or belonging to them.

A possessive adjective is an adjective that shows possession or belonging.

Examples: his, her, our and your

It answers the question: whose?

 

Pronoun and its kinds

 Pronoun

A Pronoun is a word used instead of a Noun. Words such as I, We, You, He, Him, They etc. are called Pronouns because they are used in place of nouns which we don’t want to repeat in a sentence or in a piece of continuous writing.

Look at these examples.

·         I asked John whether John knew John’s marks

We do not speak or write in this way, repeating the noun ‘John’. We therefore put pronouns in place of ‘John and says:

·         I asked John whether he knew his marks

‘He’ in this sentence stands for ‘John’ and ‘his’(the possessive form of he) for Mohan’s’

Pronouns are of different kinds

i) Personal Pronouns

I, we, you, he, she, it, they are called Personal Pronoun because they stand for three persons, the First Person, the Second Person and the Third Person.

i) the person speaking (I and We are said to be the first Person)

ii) the person spoken to (You is said to the Second Person)

iii) the person spoken of ( He, She It and They are said to be the Third Person)

Here is a chart giving you these pronouns in their ‘Subject’, ‘Object’, Possessive Adjective’ (or Determiner’) and ‘Possessive Pronoun’ forms.

Subject	Object	Possessive Adj. or Determiner	Possessive Pronoun
I	me	My	Mine
We	us	Our	Ours
You (both Sin & Plu)	you	Your	Yours
He	Him	His	His
She	her	Her	Hers
It	it	Its	-----
They	them	Their	Theirs

(note that ‘it’ is not used in the possessive pronoun form)

The uses of Personal Pronouns

a) ‘I” stands for the speaker and is used to refer either to a masculine or a feminine noun

b) ‘We’ is used to refer either to a masculine noun or a feminine noun

c)’You’ is used to refer either to a masculine noun or a feminine noun

d) ‘He’ is used to refer to a masculine noun

e) ‘She’ is used to refer to a feminine noun

f) ‘It’ is used to refer to an animal or a thing, or a child whose sex is not specified

g) ‘They’ is used to refer to masculine or feminine or  neuter nouns according to what is stands for.

ii) Possessive Pronouns

The forms mine, ours, yours, his, hers, theirs are called Possessive Pronouns. They are used to denote the nouns that follow the possessive adjectives my, our, your, his, her and their respectively. Ex. a) That book is hers   b) The idea of yours is excellent

iii) Reflexive Pronouns

When ‘self’ is added to my, your, him, her, it and ‘selves’ to our, your, them, we get what are called Compound Personal Pronouns and are called Reflexive Pronouns. When the action done by the subject turns back upon the subject as,

They hurt themselves

iv) Emphatic Pronouns

Look at the sentences

I wash my clothes myself

Policemen themselves sometimes break the traffic rules.

In these sentences the ‘self’ pronouns are used to emphasize the nouns or pronouns they stand for. They are called Emphatic Pronouns.

iv) Demonstrative Pronouns

In the sentences below this, that, these and those are used not as Demonstative Adjectives (i.e. as Determiners), but as Demonstrative Pronouns. They stand for the things or persons pointed to.

Ex. a) This is the computer my sister gave me

(‘This’ stands for this computer)

v) Indefinite Pronouns

Look at the sentences

a) Some of the boys didn’t take the examination

b)  None of the boys knew the answer to the question

c) The doll is very nice. I buy some for my children

In the sentences above ‘Some’ ‘None’ refer to persons or things in a general way, but do not refer to any person or thing in particular. They are therefore, called Indefinite Pronouns

vi) Distributive Pronouns

Each, either, neither are called Distributive Pronouns because they refer to persons or things one at a time. For this reason they are always singular and as such followed by the verb in the singular.

‘Each’ is used to denote every one of a number or persons or things taken singly

Either means the one or the other of two

Neither means not the one nor the other of two. It is the negative of either

vii) Relative Pronouns

The words Who, which, whose, which and that are called Relative Pronouns

Look at the sentences

a) I met Ram who had just returned

b) She has found the pen which she lost

In the sentences above the words ‘who’ and ‘which’ are used instead of noun Ram. It, therefore, does the work of a Pronoun. The word who joins or connects two statements. It, therefore, does the work of a conjunction.

viii) Reciprocal Pronouns

Each other and one another are treated as single units. They express mutual or reciprocal relationship, and are therefore called Reciprocal Pronouns. They are used as objects of verbs and of prepositions, as shown in the examples below, but are not used in the subject position

a) The two sons quarreled with each other

b) The people of the village used to help one another at harvest time.