The Feminine Experience of Transformation: Gender and Empowerment in Hayavadana and Taledanda

This study investigates the multifaceted portrayal of feminine experiences in Girish Karnad’s works Hayavadana and Taledanda, focusing on gender, transformation, and empowerment. The study uses a comparative analysis to look at how female characters in these plays traverse societal conventions and personal identity problems before claiming agency through transformational experiences. Hayavadana depicts Devadatta and Padmini’s internal and exterior conflicts, emphasising themes of physical and psychological growth, whilst Taledanda investigates the intricacies of gender roles in a changing social milieu. This study examines the nexus of female empowerment and transformation to show how both plays defy standard gender narratives and demonstrate the many facets of women’s autonomy in their distinct cultural and historical contexts.