Siddhartha (novel)

Siddhartha

File:Siddhartha Novel.jpg
Author	Hermann Hesse
Translator	Hilda Rosner
Language	German
Genre	Allegorical buddha
Publisher	Bantam Books
Publication date	1922, 1951 (U.S.)
Publication place	Germany
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	152
ISBN	ISBN 0-553-20884-5

Siddhartha is an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian man called Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha.

The book, Hesse's ninth novel, was written in German, in a simple, yet powerful and lyrical style. It was first published in 1922, after Hesse had spent some time in India in the 1910s. It was published in the U.S. in 1951 and became influential during the 1960s.

"Siddhartha" means "he who has attained his goals" or "every wish fulfilled". The Buddha's name, before his renunciation, was Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later the Buddha. The main character of Siddhartha in the book is not the same person as the Buddha, who in the book goes by the name "Gotama".

Experience is the aggregate of conscious events experienced by a human in life – it connotes participation, learning and perhaps knowledge. Understanding is comprehension and internalization. In Hesse’s novel Siddhartha, experience 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 scholastic, mind-dependent methods, nor through immersing oneself in the carnal pleasures of the world and the accompanying pain of samsara; however, it is the totality of these experiences that allow Siddhartha to attain understanding.

Thus, the individual events are meaningless when considered by themselves – Siddhartha’s stay with the samanas and Siddartha’s immersion in the world of love and business do not lead to nirvana, but yet they cannot be considered detractions, for every action and event that is undertaken and happens to Siddhartha helps him to achieve understanding. The sum of these events is thus experience.

For example, Siddhartha’s passionate and pained love for his son is an experience that teaches him empathy; he is able to understand the child people after this experience. Previously, though he was immersed in samsara, he could not comprehend the child people’s motivations and lives. And while samsara clung to him and made him ill and sick of it, he was unable to understand the nature of samsara. Experience of samsara at this point did not lead to understanding: perhaps it even hindered him. In contrast to this, Siddhartha’s experience with his son allows him to love, something he has not managed to do before; once again, the love itself does not lead to understanding.

The novel takes place in ancient India around the time of the Buddha (6th century BC). It starts as Siddhartha, a Brahmin's son, leaves his home to join the ascetics with his companion Govinda. The two set out in the search of enlightenment. Siddhartha goes through a series of changes and realizations as he attempts to achieve this goal.

Plot summary

When Siddhartha feels he needs a more challenging path than that of the traditional Hindu prayer and sacrifice, he leaves home together with Govinda, his admiring friend. They join a group of samanas, wandering monks who live in the woods, practice asceticism, and try to conquer the Self by disciplining the mind and mortifying the body. After four years of this life, the young men hear about the Buddha and leave the ascetic lifestyle to listen to his teachings. Govinda joins the Buddhist monks, but Siddhartha is convinced that only personal experience and not external teachings can lead to true knowledge and enlightenment. At this point, Siddhartha decides to "find himself" and re-enters the world.

Soon Siddhartha comes upon the house of a rich and beautiful courtesan, Kamala, who takes a liking to the young man. She tells him that in order for her to teach him the art of love, he must find a job and return with gifts. Siddhartha becomes assistant to a merchant, Kamaswami, and becomes a successful businessman. He initially remains detached and rather amused about how seriously the "child people" take everyday matters, but gradually he immerses himself in a life of gambling and greed. Eventually, unhappy and tired of playing life like an empty game of distractions, he departs the town forever.

Depressed and confused, Siddhartha comes upon a river and prepares to drown himself. Then he hears in the river's murmuring a sound, "Om," which is the Dharmic symbol for the oneness of everything in the universe. Those who truly understand the sound's meaning are enlightened. All suicidal thoughts vanish.

After a spiritually — as well as physically — refreshing sleep, Siddhartha wakes to find his old friend Govinda watching him. While Govinda had not recognized his friend in his rich clothes, he had stayed there to protect the sleeping traveler in the woods. The two talk for a while, and then Govinda continues on his journey. Continuing onward, Siddhartha meets for the second time the enlightened ferryman, Vasudeva, and decides to stay with him. The two work together as ferrymen and live for years in peace and contentment. Together, they listen to the many voices of the river, united in the sacred sound: "Om."

Meanwhile, Kamala, unbeknownst to Siddhartha, has given birth to his son. When she and her son go on a pilgrimage to see the dying Buddha, Kamala is bitten by a snake near the river. Vasudeva finds her and brings her to the hut he shares with Siddhartha. Before she dies, she tells Siddhartha that the boy is his son. Siddhartha takes care of the spoiled child and tries to instill appreciation of the simple life into him. He fails, and his son runs away, back to the town. Siddhartha, worried, searches for him. Vasudeva cautions that a father has to let go, has to let his son experience his own suffering — just like Siddhartha's father once had to let go; in which he began the samana journey. This illustrates one of the important themes of the book: knowledge can be taught, but wisdom comes from experience.

Now Siddhartha is truly enlightened. Recognizing this, Vasudeva goes off into the woods to die in peace. Siddhartha's friend of his youth, Govinda, comes by the river, still a Buddhist monk and still searching for enlightenment. When he asks about the teachings that have brought Siddhartha peace, Siddhartha replies that too much searching can preclude finding, that time is an illusion, that all things are one, and that love for all things is the most important thing in the world.

Then Siddhartha asks his still skeptical friend to kiss him on the forehead. After complying, Govinda no longer sees his friend Siddhartha, but rather a sea of people, animals, plants, and other objects of the world. Thus, Govinda discovers the oneness of the universe, just as Gotama, Vasudeva, and Siddhartha had before him. Govinda realizes the perfect truth of Siddhartha's wisdom, and, weeping with wonder, bows down before him. Tears run down his face as he looks upon Siddhartha in awe.

Characters in Siddhartha

Siddhartha is the novel's protagonist. Although written in the third person, the novel follows Siddhartha along his spiritual progress. Siddhartha's goal throughout the novel is to reach enlightenment. After attempting many different approaches, he at last finds enlightenment by listening to a river's murmurring which the ferryman Vasudeva leads him to. Even before his enlightenment, he develops a forceful personality bordering on hypnotism, as demonstrated by his convincing the elder Samana to allow him to join Gotama. In Sanskrit, a compound of “siddha” means “accomplished” or “fulfilled,” and a compound of “artha” means “aim” and “wealth.” Therefore, “Siddhartha” is literally “the wealth of a fulfilled aim.”

Govinda is Siddhartha's best friend and companion. He knows that Siddhartha has great potential and will follow him anywhere. It is not until Govinda pledges himself to Gotama, the historical Buddha, assuming that Siddhartha will pledge himself also, that he is forced to follow a different path than Siddhartha. ("Govinda" is also one of the best names of the Hindu god Krishna. Translated literally, it means "the protector of the cows.") Govinda could be considered the "shadow self" of Siddhartha.

Gotama , or the Illustrious One, is the Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, whose first name is also Siddhartha. He has attained enlightenment, as his peaceful demeanor and gentle, half-mocking smile show, and Siddhartha admires him deeply. But Siddhartha does not believe that it is possible to attain enlightenment through teachers, doctrines, or disciplines, so he leaves Gotama and goes on his way. Govinda, however, becomes one of Gotama's followers, a monk.

Kamala is the beautiful courtesan from whom Siddhartha attempts to learn the pleasures of life. He comes to her filthy and poor, and she helps him to become a man of wealth, clothing, and earthly pleasures. After realizing that he has become an ordinary man, just like the others in the town, he leaves Kamala to again search for salvation. She bears his son. While on a pilgrimage to Gotama's deathbed, she is bitten by a snake and dies in Siddhartha's arms. "Kamala" is a common Indian name meaning "lotus". Moreover, Kāmadeva is the Hindu god of love; one of his names is Kāma, meaning "desire."

Kamaswami is a rich, conventional merchant. When Siddhartha offers himself to earthly desires, Kamala tells him to make money and become rich by becoming an associate of Kamaswami. Under the apprenticeship of Kamaswami, Siddhartha soon becomes a very rich man. Siddhartha is contemptuous of Kamaswami for lacking compassion and self-discipline, for living only for wealth and property. Over time, however, Siddhartha becomes almost a replica of Kamaswami and his vices. Kamaswami's name is derived from "kama" (see "Kamala" above) and "swami," meaning "master"; he is thereby a "master of desire."

Vasudeva is a ferryman who has attained enlightenment by listening to the river. Like Gotama Buddha, he is a deeply peaceful and happy man. Siddhartha first encounters him when he needs to cross the river, but has no money to pay for transport. Vasudeva transports him for free, saying that “everything comes back.” After Siddhartha leaves the town, leaving Kamala and Kamaswami, he again meets Vasudeva, attains enlightenment the same way, and becomes a ferryman too. Vasudeva goes into the woods and dies in the penultimate chapter of the novel. In Hinduism, Vasudeva was the father of Krishna. The root "vas" means either "to dwell" or "to shine" and so Vasudeva's name may mean that he is the one who dwells/shines in all things.

Siddhartha's son, also named Siddhartha, is the son of Siddhartha and Kamala. Siddhartha doesn't know of the son until he meets Kamala on her Buddhist pilgrimage. After Kamala dies, little Siddhartha refuses to obey his father and eventually steals the ferryman's money and runs back to the town.

Major themes

From the start of Siddhartha's journey, he seeks personal transformation. He joins the ascetics, visits Gotama, embraces his earthly desires, and finally communes with nature, all in an attempt to attain Nirvana. Siddhartha knows that he will not attain enlightenment by following Gotama. The novel also shows how the path to enlightenment cannot be conferred to another person because it is different for everyone and will likely never be achieved simply by listening to or obeying an enlightened one. For words and teachings may describe the truth but are not the Truth itself; being concepts, they trap you, since enlightenment means release from concepts.

Another powerful theme is the concept of the circle in time portrayed through the relationship of the father and son, exemplified with his experience with his father and again with the experience with his son. This idea is shown throughout by Siddhartha's need of companionship: first Govinda, then Kamala, and finally Vasudeva--each companion symbolized the attainment of the various stages in his path to enlightenment. The novel is unique in that time is not linear, the series of events occur at varying jumps in time; yet the themes throughout the book seem to come back to its origin. This symbolizes the essence of the River, being that the River is its own beginning, middle and end--or the source of life. At the end, Siddhartha was only able to reach enlightenment through this realization: that no matter how much life splits from the source, everything tends to gravitate back towards it.

At the end of his journey, it is only through the acceptance of the spectrum of human emotion that Siddhartha attains Nirvana. As written, at the exact moment of enlightenment, Siddhartha experiences the emotions of humanity through the River all flowing from and to its source.

Film versions

A film version named Siddhartha was released in 1972. It starred Shashi Kapoor and was directed by Conrad Rooks. It is currently available on DVD.

Jorge Polaco directed a Spanish version of the film in Argentina, entitled Siddharta, in 2003. [1]

In 1971, a surrealistic adaptation as a musical Western was released as Zachariah. John Rubinstein starred in the title role and George Englund was the director. Don Johnson played Matthew, the equivalent of Govinda.

In 2006 Danny Duncan, Emily Klinton and Lisa Quorismo wrote a musical named Siddhartha: The Bright Path.[2]

Musical references

• Cise Star's (from CYNE) song Adrift (produced by Sharpsound) makes a reference to the novel in it's chorus, about Siddhartha and the river.
• The 1972 Yes song Close to The Edge from the Close to the Edge album was inspired by the book.
• Radiohead's 2001 album Amnesiac contains themes and lyrics inspired by the book, especially "Pyramid Song", "I Might Be Wrong", and "Like Spinning Plates".
• Slovenian rock band Siddharta is named after the book. The members say that they "liked the sound of the title."
• Rock band Queen recites a passage from Siddhartha in their 1977 BBC re-take of the song We Will Rock You. [3]
• The 1971 Ralph McTell song The Ferryman from the Your Well Meaning Brought Me Here album was inspired by the book.
• Jerry Cantrell has a song called Siddhartha on his Degradation Trip double album.
• Canadian rapper Kyprios references Siddhartha and the symbolic River in his song "All I Know".

Fictional references

Australian novelist James Clancy Phelan is writing his third novel in a five book thriller series where the main protagonists, Lachlan Fox and Alister Gammaldi, are on a quest for enlightenment in a similar way as Siddhartha and Govinda. Phelan has stated this book as a major influence on his writing.

External links

• Full texts of Siddhartha in original German and English translation from Project Gutenberg