''Siddhartha: An Indian novel'' (; ) is a 1922 novel by
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...
that deals with the spiritual
journey of self-discovery
Journey or journeying may refer to:
* Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations
** Day's journey, a measurement of distance
** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road
Animals
* Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ...
of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
. The book, Hesse's ninth novel, was written in German, in a simple, lyrical style. It was published in the United States in 1951 by
New Directions Publishing
New Directions Publishing Corp. is an independent book publishing company that was founded in 1936 by James Laughlin (1914–1997) and incorporated in 1964. Its offices are located at 80 Eighth Avenue in New York City.
History
New Directions ...
and became influential during the 1960s. Hesse dedicated the first part of it to the French writer
Romain Rolland
Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...
and the second part to Wilhelm Gundert, his cousin.
The word ''Siddhartha'' is made up of two words in the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
language: ''
siddha
''Siddha'' (Sanskrit: '; "perfected one") is a term that is used widely in Indian religions and culture. It means "one who is accomplished." It refers to perfected masters who have achieved a high degree of perfection of the intellect as we ...
'' (achieved) + ''
artha
''Artha'' (; ; Pali: Attha, Tamil: பொருள், poruḷ) is one of the four goals or objectives of human life in Hindu traditions.James Lochtefeld (2002), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Rosen Publishing, New York, , pp 55–56 ...
'' (what was searched for), which together means "he who has found meaning (of existence)" or "he who has attained his goals". In fact, the Buddha's own name, before his
renunciation
Renunciation (or renouncing) is the act of rejecting something, particularly something that the renunciant has previously enjoyed or endorsed.
In religion, renunciation often indicates an abandonment of pursuit of material comforts, in the inte ...
, was Siddhartha Gautama, prince of
Kapilavastu. In this book, the Buddha is referred to as "Gotama".
Plot
The story takes place in ancient India, where Siddhartha decides to leave his home in the hope of gaining
spiritual illumination by becoming an
ascetic
Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their pra ...
Samana. Joined by his best friend
Govinda
Govinda (, ), also rendered Govind, Gobinda, and Gobind, is an epithet of Vishnu and his avatars, such as Krishna. The name appears as the 187th and the 539th name of Vishnu in the ''Vishnu Sahasranama''. The name is also popularly addressed to ...
, Siddhartha fasts, becomes homeless, renounces all personal possessions, and intensely meditates. Eventually the pair seek out and personally speak with
the enlightened Gautama, but although Govinda hastily joins the Buddha's order, Siddhartha does not. For him, the
Buddhist philosophy
Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian Indian philosophy, philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It comprises all the Philosophy, philosophical investigations and Buddhist logico-episte ...
, though supremely wise, must be individually realized independently of instruction by a teacher. He thus resolves to carry on his quest alone.
Siddhartha crosses a river and the ferryman, whom Siddhartha is unable to pay, predicts that Siddhartha will return later to compensate him in some way. Venturing onward toward city life, Siddhartha encounters the
courtesan
A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person.
History
In European feudal society, the co ...
Kamala, the most beautiful woman he has seen. She notes Siddhartha's handsome appearance and fast wit, but warns him that he must become wealthy to win her affections so that she may teach him the art of love. Although Siddhartha despised
materialistic pursuits as a Samana, he agrees now to Kamala's suggestion. She directs him to the employ of Kamaswami, a local businessman, and insists that he have Kamaswami treat him as an equal rather than an underling. Siddhartha easily succeeds, providing a voice of patience and tranquility, which Siddhartha learned from his days as an ascetic, against Kamaswami's fits of passion. Thus Siddhartha becomes a rich man and Kamala's lover, but in his middle years he realizes that the luxurious lifestyle he has chosen is merely a game that lacks spiritual fulfillment. Leaving the bustle of the city, Siddhartha returns to the river, disillusioned and contemplating suicide. Falling into a meditative sleep, he is saved only by an internal experience of the holy word,
Om.
The next morning, Siddhartha briefly reconnects with Govinda, who is passing through the area as a wandering Buddhist monk. Siddhartha decides to live the rest of his life in the presence of the spiritually inspirational river, companioning Vasudeva, the elderly ferryman, with whom he begins a humbler way of life. Although Vasudeva is a simple man, he has spiritual insight and relates that the river has many voices and significant messages to divulge to any who might listen.
Some years later, Kamala, now a Buddhist convert, is traveling to see the Buddha on his deathbed, accompanied by her reluctant young son, when she is bitten by a venomous snake near the river bank. Siddhartha recognizes her and she informs him that the boy is his own son. After Kamala's death, Siddhartha attempts to console and raise the furiously resistant boy, until one day the child flees altogether. Although Siddhartha is desperate to follow the runaway, Vasudeva urges him to let the boy find his own path, just as Siddhartha did himself in his youth. Listening to the river with Vasudeva, Siddhartha realizes that time is an illusion and that all of his feelings and experiences, even those of suffering, are part of a great and ultimately jubilant fellowship of all things connected in the cyclical unity of nature. After Siddhartha's moment of illumination, Vasudeva claims that his work is done and he must depart into the woods, leaving Siddhartha peacefully fulfilled and alone once more.
Toward the end of his life, Govinda hears about an
enlightened ferryman and travels to Siddhartha, not initially recognizing him as his old childhood companion. Govinda asks the now-elderly Siddhartha to relate his wisdom and Siddhartha replies that for every true statement there is an opposite one that is also true; that language and the confines of time lead people to adhere to one fixed belief that does not account for the fullness of the truth. Because nature works in a self-sustaining cycle, every entity carries in it the potential for its opposite and so the world must always be considered complete. Siddhartha simply urges people to identify and love the world in its completeness. He then requests the puzzled Govinda to kiss his forehead; when he does so, Govinda experiences the same visions of timelessness that Siddhartha himself saw with Vasudeva by the river. Govinda then bows to his wise and radiantly smiling friend.
Major themes
In Hesse's novel, experience, the totality of conscious events of a human life, is shown as the best way to approach understanding of reality and attain enlightenment—Hesse's crafting of Siddhartha's journey shows that understanding is attained not through intellectual methods, nor through immersing oneself in the carnal pleasures of the world and the accompanying pain of
samsara; rather, it is the completeness of these experiences that allows Siddhartha to attain understanding.
Thus, individual events are meaningless when considered by themselves—Siddhartha's stay with the Samanas and his immersion in the worlds of love and business do not ''
ipso facto
is a Latin phrase, directly translated as "by the fact itself", which means that a specific phenomenon is a ''direct'' consequence, a resultant ''effect'', of the action in question, instead of being brought about by a previous action. (Contras ...
'' lead to
nirvana
Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...
, yet they cannot be considered distractions, for every action and event gives Siddhartha experience, which in turn leads to understanding.
A major preoccupation of Hesse in writing ''Siddhartha'' was to cure his "sickness with life" (''Lebenskrankheit'') by immersing himself in
Indian philosophy
Indian philosophy consists of philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. The philosophies are often called darśana meaning, "to see" or "looking at." Ānvīkṣikī means “critical inquiry” or “investigation." Unlike darśan ...
such as that expounded in the
Upanishads
The Upanishads (; , , ) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hind ...
and the
Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu texts, Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the Hindu epic, epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Ind ...
. The reason the second half of the book took so long to write was that Hesse "had not experienced that transcendental state of unity to which Siddhartha aspires. In an attempt to do so, Hesse lived as a virtual semi-
recluse
A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion and solitude. The word is from the Latin , which means 'to open' or 'disclose'.
Examples of recluses are Symeon of Trier, who lived within the great Roman gate Porta Nigra with permissio ...
and became totally immersed in the sacred teachings of both
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
and
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
scriptures. His intention was to attain to that 'completeness' which, in the novel, is the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
's badge of distinction." The novel is structured on three of the traditional
stages of life for Hindu males (student (''
brahmacharin
''Brahmacharya'' (; Sanskrit: Devanagari: wikt:ब्रह्मचर्य, ब्रह्मचर्य) is the concept within Indian religions that literally means "conduct consistent with Brahman" or "on the path of Brahman". Brahma ...
''), householder (''
grihastha
''Gṛhastha'' (Sanskrit: गृहस्थ) literally means "being in and occupied with home, family" or "householder". It refers to the second phase of an individual's life in a four age-based stages of the Hindu asrama system. It follows cel ...
'') and recluse/renunciate (''
vanaprastha'') as well as the Buddha's
Four Noble Truths
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (; ; "The Four Arya (Buddhism), arya satya") are "the truths of the noble one (the Buddha)," a statement of how things really are (Three marks of existence, the three marks of existence) when they are seen co ...
(Part One) and
Eightfold Path (Part Two) which form twelve chapters, the number in the novel.
Ralph Freedman mentions how Hesse commented in a letter "
ySiddhartha does not, in the end, learn true wisdom from any teacher, but from a river that roars in a funny way and from a kindly old fool who always smiles and is secretly a
saint
In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
." In a lecture about Siddhartha, Hesse claimed "Buddha's way to
salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
has often been criticized and doubted, because it is thought to be wholly grounded in
cognition
Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
. True, but it's not just intellectual cognition, not just learning and knowing, but
spiritual experience that can be earned only through strict discipline in a selfless life". Freedman also points out how ''Siddhartha'' described Hesse's interior
dialectic
Dialectic (; ), also known as the dialectical method, refers originally to dialogue between people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to arrive at the truth through reasoned argument. Dialectic resembles debate, but the ...
: "All of the contrasting poles of his life were sharply etched: the restless departures and the search for stillness at home; the diversity of experience and the harmony of a unifying spirit; the security of
religious
Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...
dogma
Dogma, in its broadest sense, is any belief held definitively and without the possibility of reform. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, or Islam ...
and the
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...
of
freedom
Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws".
In one definition, something is "free" i ...
." Eberhard Ostermann has shown how Hesse, while mixing the religious genre of the legend with that of the modern novel, seeks to reconcile with the double-edged effects of
modernization
Modernization theory or modernisation theory holds that as societies become more economically modernized, wealthier and more educated, their political institutions become increasingly liberal democratic and rationalist. The "classical" theories ...
such as individualization, pluralism or self-disciplining. The character Siddhartha honors the character Gotama (
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
) by not following him in person, but by following Gotama's example.
Cultural reinterpretations
''Zachariah'', an adaptation loosely based on two Hesse novels including ''Siddhartha'', was released as a musical Western in 1971. In the following year, a film version of the novel was released as
''Siddhartha'', starring
Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor (pronounced �əʃi kəpuːɾ born Balbir Raj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) was an Indian actor and producer known primarily for his work in Hindi films. He is considered as one of the greatest and most successful acto ...
and directed by
Conrad Rooks.
Musical compositions based on the novel have included
Claude Vivier's
symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...
,
''Siddhartha'' (1976), and
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...
's song "The Ferryman", written for an amateur dramatisation in June 1976. Townshend's wife
Rachel Fuller composed a 'literary and musical reinvention' of the novel by 2024, titled "The Seeker", starring him as the ferryman. Earlier, in 2015,
Joel Puckett
Joel Puckett (born in 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American composer. Joel completed his academic work at the University of Michigan, earning both a Masters of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts. His teachers include Michael Daugherty, W ...
composed a piece for wind ensemble titled "That Secret from the River", based on the Ferryman's words from the book: "Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future."
There was also an Indian-themed photographic essay by
Fred Mayer published in 2011 under the title "Homage to Hermann Hesse and His Siddhartha"
See also
*
References
Citations
General and cited references
*
*
External links
*
* Full texts of ''Siddhartha'' i
Germanan
English translationfrom
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddhartha (novel)
1922 German novels
1922 German-language novels
German philosophical novels
German bildungsromans
Buddhist novels
Novels set in ancient India
Novels about Indian prostitution
Books about Gautama Buddha
Fictional Buddhist monks
Swiss novels adapted into films
German novels adapted into films
Novels by Hermann Hesse