Over the course of his life, Girish Karnad has been many things—but in India and beyond, his reputation as a playwright is the foremost part of his legacy. As he played an instrumental role in developing India's modern "theatre of roots," Karnad is a pivotal figure for understanding the contours of that movement.
In reading Hayavadana, then, which itself results from a transposing of the ancient with the modern, the European with the Indian, and the tragic with the comic, readers can learn about and explore an author whose work is an important transition point in both the history of India and India's art forms.
Key Aspects of Hayavadana
Tone
Hayavadana is, on the whole, a tragicomedy....
