Hayavadana

The play is an allegory of the Thomas Mann novella The Transposed Heads in which there is the same love triangle portrayed. The difference is merely in the way in which the different elements of the plot are emphasized; in Karnad's version, there is more focus on the psychological consequences on the characters whereas Mann's version is more of a narrative account.

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The motif of switching heads is pivotal to the themes of incompleteness and of hybridism. The first character that the Narrator introduces is a god called Ganesha who has the head of an elephant and the body of a child. The next character that the audience meets in person is Hayavadana, who has the body of a man and the head of a horse.

At first, the two male protagonists have their own heads correctly connected to their own bodies, but after an excitable Padmini makes an error and puts each man's head on the oth'er's body by mistake, they, too, have a body and a head that does not belong together. This motif is followed all the way through the play until the end, when Hayavadana does reach a stage of completeness thanks to the help of both Kali and the little boy who is the son of Padmi and Davadatta.