In this article is explored how the literary influences from both the East and the West work in the formation of Girish Karnad's plays, Hayavadana and Nagamandala. The literary influence of the East is felt when Karnad cultivates Indian myths and folkloric elements in the plays. The Western influence is recognized when Karnad casts the plays in the complex form of German playwright, Bertolt Brecht's Epic Theatre. Under the influence of Brecht, Karnad moulds the plays into complex structural patterns in order to generate critical response of the audience to, and dispel the Aristotelian identification with, the situations and events in the plays