Hayavadana

Book excerpt: A Yakshagana folk theatre piece, combining music, dance and drama. Two young heroes, Devadatta, a man of the intellect, and Kapila, a man of the body, are both attracted to Padmini, who marries Devadatta. When the rivalry threatens their friendship each man commits suicide by cutting off his own head. Through the intervention of the goddess Kali the men are brought back to life but Padmini accidently mixes the heads up, attaching them to the wrong bodies. A subplot fleshes out the theme of the search for completeness: Hayavadana wants to lose his horse's head and become fully human.