Hayavadana-Unveiling the Masks of Beauty and Meaning

This paper is an attempt to study the matrix of Ethics and Aesthetics in the play Hayavadana by Girish Karnad. The paraphernalia of masks, mime, half-curtains, dance, song, play-within-the play, and the use of 'sutradhar' has the undercurrent of vital truth of human existence like the persuasive philosophy of the time-Existentialism. Transposition of heads in the plot is a manifestation of Padmini's suppressed desire for a complete man that remains unfulfilled. At the socio-cultural level, the play suggests that Apollonian always asserts itself and subdues the Dionysian in our society. None of the main characters is complete. The incompleteness is a human predicament. Modern man must grapple with this reality by trying to re-interpret life by exploring various possibilities and complexities that one may encounter in life. Karnad deftly uses the conventions and motifs of the folk tales and folk theatre to create a bizarre world of incomplete individuals, indifferent gods that speak and children who cannot. Hayavadana is an innovative experiment in fusing together the traditional and the modern theatrical devices to present the contemporary conflict-torn human existence.