The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Girish, Karnad. Three Plays: Hayavadana. Oxford University Press, 1994. Print.

The play is a 1971 rendition of a 1940 Thomas Mann novel which retells, in part, the eleventh-century Kathasaritsagara, a collection of Indian folktales. The play begins with the narrator, Bhagavata, thanking Ganesh for his blessings and asking the Hindu god to watch over the following performance. After Bhagavata has thoroughly thanked Ganesh, he tells the audience that our two heroes are Devadatta and Kapila. Devadatta is the smartest man in all of Dharmapura, and Kapila is the strongest man in the city. Devadatta is born into the Brahmin caste, while Kapila is born into the Shudra caste, but they are the best of friends.

Before Bhagavata can continue with the play, an actor runs in from the wings and screams that he has seen a talking horse. Bhagavata does not believe him, but then the talking horse comes on stage. Hayavadana is a man with a horse’s head. He cries and explains that he was born into his mutated body. His mother was the beautiful Princess of Kamataka. She was given the choice to marry anyone she wished. When she saw the Prince of Araby on his white stallion, she decided she wanted to marry the beautiful horse. Her father agreed and she lived with the horse for over a decade, eventually giving birth to Hayavadana. One day, her stallion turned into a beautiful man and explained that he was a gandharva that had been cursed by a god to live as a horse until he won the love of a human woman for fifteen years. He invites the princess to come to his celestial home with him, but she refuses to go if he will not turn back into her stallion. He curses her to be a horse and ascends to heaven, leaving Hayavadana orphaned.

Bhagavata encourages Hayavadana to visit the goddess Kali to get rid of his horse’s head. Hayavadana sets off with the actor and Bhagavata returns to the central story. Devadatta sees Padmini at a market and becomes instantly obsessed with her. He tells Kapila about his feelings, and Kapila offers to find the girl and ask her to marry Devadatta. When Kapila sees Padmini himself, he is struck by her beauty, but his loyalty is to Devadatta, his dearest friend.

Kapila successfully arranges for Devadatta and Padmini to marry and Padmini gets pregnant, but the two are not happy. Padmini is quick-tempered and bold, which rubs Devadatta the wrong way. Devadatta hates that Padmini wants to spend time with Kapila because he wants her all to himself. When they go on a trip to Ujjain together, Kapila stops the cart to get flowers for Padmini. Padmini watches Kapila with lust that Devadatta cannot ignore. When Padmini and Kapila go to the temple of Rudra together, Devadatta sneaks off to the temple of Kali and cuts his head off.

When Padmini and Kapila get back to their cart, they realize Devadatta is gone. Kapila leaves Padmini and goes in search of his friend. When he sees what has happened, he kills himself to be with his best friend. Padmini goes in search of them and finds them. She decides to kill herself because she knows people will call her a “whore” (101) and blame her for the death of both men. However, the goddess Kali intervenes and offers to restore the men to life and asks Padmini to put their heads on so she can revive them. Padmini mixes the heads up and Devadatta emerges with Kapila’s body and vice-versa. The three think this is hilarious. They dance and sing in the woods until the collapse.

When they finally leave, they get into a fight about who Padmini is rightfully married to. Bhagavata interrupts the action and announces the intermission, then asks the audience to ponder what the right decision is.

In the second act, the trio go to see a rishi who tells them that, since the head rules the body, Padmini belongs to Devadatta’s head and Kapila’s body. Kapila is devastated, so he goes off alone into the woods to live as a hermit. Padmini and Devadatta enjoy the new excitement of their revamped sexual lives, but soon these feelings begin to fade. After their son is born, Devadatta transforms into his old self and Padmini finds herself dreaming about Kapila. When she learns that Kapila’s mother has died, she sends Devadatta to get dolls at the Ujjain fair and leaves to find Kapila in the woods. The two speak and then embrace one another.

Devadatta learns of Padmini’s betrayal, so he seeks Kapila out in the forest with a sword and two dolls. When Devadatta sees his old friend, though, he feels no anger. Nevertheless, the two men agree that they cannot live happily together so they must kill one another. After they do, Padmini decides to go off into the woods and commit suicide, leaving her child with Bhagavata.

The play seems about to end, but then another actor runs on stage screaming about a talking horse. Hayavadana returns to the stage as a complete horse who can still speak with a human’s voice. The first actor also returns with a child everyone recognizes as belonging to Padmini. The child is sullen and does not talk at all until he sees Hayavadana and starts laughing. Hayavadana says he wants to lose his human voice so he can be a complete being, and the child shows Hayavadana how to laugh until his voice is gone. In the end, Bhagavata thanks Ganesh for the performance.