Girish Karnad's Hayavadana - A Setting for Sacred and Profane

Abstract

Hayavadana, a multiplex play, offers various binary themes for discussion. By combining the indigenous Yakshagana and the western Brechtian Epic theatre practices, Girish Karnad has created a unique theatre display, presenting it as a social and religious satire that point to the persistent pursuit of the humanity to achieve perfection. The plot and the sub-plot of the play get interlocked by raising questions on identity and the nature of reality. The dramatist intentionally effects a dynamic communication between the audience and the performance, noting that the audience too are not separate from such an existential predicament. This Verfremdungseffekt or the “alienation effect”, is achieved through a number of devices. One such device, apart from the folk-theatre motifs, is the philosophical survey of the concepts, ‘Sacred’ and the ‘Profane’. This paper ventures to show how these concepts add further investigation of the play.