The Fragile Whole: A psychoanalytic study of identity and incompleteness in Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana

At its heart, Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana is a haunting reflection on the universal human struggle to feel complete. While the play uses the fantastical hook of swapped heads, this research dives deeper into the psychological messiness of the characters their secret longings, their insecurities, and the masks they wear. Using the lens of psychoanalysis, this paper moves past the "folk tale" exterior to look at the three central figures as fragments of a single, shattered personality. We look at Devadatta (the mind) and Kapila (the body) not just as rivals, but as the two halves of ourselves that are constantly at war. Through Padmini, we explore the tragedy of "wanting it all" the agonizing human tendency to seek a perfection that doesn't actually exist. The study also looks at the character of Hayavadana the man with a horse's head as a symbol for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider in their own skin. By connecting these ancient themes to modern concepts like the Ego and the unconscious, this paper argues that Karnad’s play is actually a mirror. It shows us that our search for "wholeness" is often a beautiful, doomed pursuit, and that being "human" is defined more by our fractures than by our perfections.