Author: Hermann Hesse
Pages: 167
Publisher: Indialog Publications
Genre: Fiction/ Allegorical novel
My rating: 4.5/5
Siddhartha is an allegorical novel originally written in German by author Hermann Hesse, a native of Germany. Later it was translated into English and many other languages. This book was written by Hesse when he briefly visited India in the 1910s and was first published in 1922.
As Buddha was originally known as Siddhartha, people usually confuse this book with Gautama Buddha. The novel is about the spiritual journey of a simple boy in ancient India, known as Siddhartha, during the time of Gautama Buddha. Siddharttha, the son of a Brahmin, leaves home along with his friend Govinda, in search of enlightenment and the search for knowledge. He meets the Buddha on his way, while Govinda becomes his follower, Siddhartha refuses to be a disciple of the Buddha, though he respects his teachings and wanders alone in search of him. He goes through a series of transformations during his journey and finally reaches his goal.
Hesse, through this book, demonstrates that experience is the best way to understand reality and achieve enlightenment, not by teaching some scholar or scholastic methods or by immersing yourself in the carnal pleasures of life. It’s a balance of everything; it is the totality of all this that helps us to gain the understanding of self or reality or Nirvana. According to the author, the path to enlightenment cannot be conferred by any teacher or obtained by listening to the words of an enlightened person, because words only describe the Truth, but it is not the Truth itself.
I liked the way Hesse has used River as a metaphor and symbol for life in his book. The river is its very beginning, middle and end… the source of life. All Siddhartha’s learnings are through the River. His path to enlightenment is by experiencing the emotions of humanity (Sansara) through the river, flowing from its source and back through it.
The book deals with extremely deep concepts and powerful themes of life and I loved it. It is a very unique novel and definitely not for everyone. You can enjoy it and get something out of it, only if you are able to appreciate this kind of thinking and lean towards the spiritual side of life. It is worth reading.
