Hayavadana

Plot

The play begins with worship to Lord Ganesha. Bhagwata, a character who also serves as the narrator, enters the stage and seeks blessings for a successful performance. Through his narration, he transports the audience to a place called Dharampur and introduces King Dharmsheel. Bhagwata then poses rhetorical questions about the incompleteness of man and God, and about human perfection. He introduces two friends: Devdutta, a sharp-minded, highly intellectual Brahmin son who has defeated poets and Pandits with his knowledge, and Kapila, a muscular son of a Lohar (blacksmith) with great physical strength. The two are contrasted: Devdutta lacks power and strength, while Kapila lacks knowledge and intellect. The playwright suggests that the head of Devdutta (knowledge) and the body of Kapila (physical strength) together form a complete man. Bhagwata compares their pair to the pairs of Ram-Laxman, Luv-Kush, and Krishna-Balram, all great brother pairs in Hindu mythology. A character called Actor-1 appears shouting and running toward Bhagwata, claiming to have seen a strange creature with a horse's face that speaks like a man. Bhagwata dismisses him, but Actor-1 returns, and the creature itself appears: it has the head of a horse and the body of a man. Bhagwata initially thinks it is a mask, but upon trying to remove it, realizes the creature is truly half man and half horse. The creature then introduces itself to Bhagwata, Actor-1, and the audience.