A Summary of Hermann Hesse's

Siddartha

Kathryn Byrnes
Winter Quarter 1998
Winter 198
 Siddartha is the story of a man who spends his entire life

in search of truth, self-understanding, and Nirvana. Siddartha

was born a Brahmin, most likely somewhere in India. He grew to

be a young man under the teachings of his father and the elders

of his religion, who revered him as gifted and intelligent, but

they were not able to answer all of his questions about God,

truth, and life, they were not able to quench the thirst for

knowledge and understanding that welled up within him.

Therefore, Siddartha, with Govinda, left his father's house and

joined another religious group, the Samana.

The two young men spent several years learning the ways of

the Samana. The basis of the Samana teaching was to learn how

one fasts, waits, and prays. The Samana saw in Siddartha the

unique qualities which the Brahmins had also seen in him. He

learned quickly and was very good at those things which he

learned. He was revered by the Samana and was on his way to

becoming one of their chief leaders, when Siddartha realized that

he was unable to quench his thirst through the teachings of the

Samana as with those of the Brahmins. There still remained in

him doubts and questions, the pressing thirst for knowledge and

understanding.

Then one day Govinda and Siddartha hear stories of the

Buddha, Gotama, the Perfect One. The stories told of this holy

man who had reached Nirvana, the ultimate state of bliss and

peacefulness. So the two friends set out to find Gotama, and

Siddartha hopes to finally find answers to all his questions.

"Every finger of his hand spoke of peace, spoke of completeness,

an unfading light, an invulnerable peace".1 Govinda finds in

Gotama all that he sought and after hearing his teachings Govinda

joined the holy men of the Perfect One and followed him the rest

of his life. Siddartha also found God in Gotama, but at the same

time, he comes to the conclusion that just as Gotama had found

his way to Nirvana alone, so he must do the same. Therefore

Siddartha leaves his dear friend, he leaves Buddha, he leaves all

doctrines, and all teachings, and he sets out to quench his

thirst on his own.

It is at this pivotal point in the novel when Siddartha

ventures out to reach his goal of salvation alone, through his

own experience. He realizes that he has spent his life

attempting to destroy his Self. He had been taught that only

through destroying the Self is one able to attain knowledge of

the unknown innermost, and hence reach Nirvana. But on this day,

Siddartha decides that he must instead know Himself. He is

filled with peace as he makes this decision to seek after his own

Self and be his own guide and teacher. Filled with this peace,

he sees the world and nature around him in a new light, as if a

veil had been lifted from his eyes, and he decides to never look

back. Part one of the novel comes to an end and part two begins

as Siddartha ventures on his new journey that will take him to

the city, into the "world".

1Hermann Hesse, Siddartha, English Translation by Hilda Rosner, pgs. 27-28.

ferryman who takes people across the river on his bamboo raft.

Here the author foreshadows the return of Siddartha to the river

when the ferryman says simply, "I have learned that from the

river too; everything comes back. You, too, Samana, will come

back"2. Siddartha does not take the man seriously but is still

touched by his kindness and simplicity. He wishes the ferryman

well and continues for the city.

Siddartha's first encounter with the world occurs on

the outskirts of the city. It is here that he sees Kamala, the

mistress, for the first time. He feels an instant attraction

towards Kamala due to her beauty, and he sets out to become her

friend and pupil in hopes of learning from her the art of love.

Kamala is taken by the uniqueness of the young man but tells him

that he must have a good appearance and wealth in order to learn

from her. She then helps him to find a job with a wealthy

merchant, Kamaswami. In no time, Siddartha learns the ways of

the merchant and acquires much wealth. Kamala becomes his best

friend, and his lover, and slowly, without knowing it, Siddartha

is transformed by the ways of the world.

It is not until Siddartha is an older man that he realizes

that the world has given him much experience but no answers.

He has arrived in the city as a simple man who owned nothing and

possessed only the abilities to think, wait, and fast. But in

exchange for the immoral, complicated, and wasteful ways of the

2Siddartha, pg. 49.

gambling, Siddartha loses his abilities to think, wait, and fast.

"Slowly, like moisture entering the dying tree trunk, slowly

filling and rotting it, so did the world and inertia creep into

Siddartha's soul; it slowly filled his soul, made it heavy, made

it tired, sent it to sleep. But on the other hand his senses

became more awakened, they learned a great deal, experienced a

great deal."3

He finally leaves one day, lonely and empty, leaving behind

all his wealth and riches, and Kamala, who is not surprised by

his departure. Stumbling through the forest, Siddartha fells

like his heart is dead and he wishes nothing more than to die.

He comes upon the river that he had crossed so many years before

on his way to the city. And as he looks into the river at this

reflection of a man that he now hates, he hears, out of the depth

of the river, out of the depth of his soul, a faint sound, the

holy Om. "It was one word, one syllable which without thinking

he spoke indistinctly, the ancient beginning and ending of all

Brahmin prayers, the holy Om, which had the meaning of the

'Perfect One' or 'Perfection'. At that moment, when the sound of

Om reached Siddartha's ears, his slumbering soul is suddenly

awakened and recognized the folly of his actions."4

His soul is renewed and remembers all that it had forgotten

while in the world. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, he sinks to the

ground and falls asleep. When he awakens, Siddartha lifts his

3pgs. 76-77
4pg. 89
eyes to find none other than his dear old friend Govinda sitting

before him in the yellow robe of Buddha's disciples, watching

over him so as to protect him from snakes or animals, but unaware

that it is in fact Siddartha. As Govinda is about to depart,

having done his duty, Siddartha thanks the disciple by name. In

shock Govinda turns around only to be told that this rich man

before him is his old friend who had left him so many years

before. Curious and confused by Siddartha's rich attire,

Siddartha explains to Govinda that he was once a rich man, as he

had once been a Samana, and before that a Brahmin, but at

present, he is on a pilgrimage with no destination. Siddartha

explains that, "The wheel of appearances changes quickly,

Govinda. The transitory soon changes."5 Govinda takes leave of

his dear friend, the two are unsure whether they will ever see

each other again.

After Govinda leaves, Siddartha sits beside the river

contemplating his life, and in his contemplation he realizes that

his life is just like the river, in which everything comes back.

He, an old man, is once more a child, born anew, knowing nothing,

possessing nothing, having no where to go. He only knows that he

does not want to leave the river for he feels that it has

something more to tell him, more to teach him. So Siddartha

departs along the river for the ferryman's hut at which he had

once stayed so many years before. Upon arrival, he finds the

same ferryman still rowing his bamboo boat across the river for

5pg. 94
those who need to cross. Siddartha reminds the man, Vasudeva, of

their first encounter and asks him if he could become his

apprentice and learn how to ferry the boat.

Vasudeva kindly invites Siddartha for the night and that

same evening Siddartha sits beside Vasudeva relating the story of

his entire life. Vasudeva listens for hours, and he is very

attentive as Siddartha tells how he fell asleep by the river and

felt as if the river had spoken to him. When Siddartha finishes

speaking, Vasudeva asks Siddartha to be his apprentice because he

has seen the river calling Siddartha as it had always called

himself. "It is as I thought [Siddartha]; the river has spoken to

you. It is friendly towards you too."6

The two men live together in Vasudeva's little hut next to

the river. They grow their own food, and ferry people across the

river, but most importantly they spent many hours sitting by the

river, just listening. "Above all Siddartha learned from the

river how to listen, to listen with a still heart, with a

waiting, open soul, without passion, without desire, without

judgments, without opinions."7

Siddartha also learns from the river that there is no time,

all is in the present for the river. "The river is everywhere at

the same time...the present only exists for it, not the shadow of

the past, or the shadow of the future."8 He also learns that the

6pgs. 104-105
7pg. 106
8pg. 107
river contains the voices of all that is created. And when it

speaks all the voices of creation at once, the blessed Om is

heard by those who listen.

Nobody counted the years that passed as Siddartha and

Vasudeva lived together beside the river. Then one day a group

of Buddha's disciples come in a rush, needing to be taken across

the river. News has spread that Gotama is dying and flocks of

people are on their way to rest one last look upon the

"Illustrious One". One of these devout followers was none other

than Kamala, who had long since retired and had given her

pleasure garden to the followers of Buddha, becoming one of the

benefactresses attached to the pilgrims. But Kamala does not

travel alone on her journey, she travels with her young son,

little Siddartha, the result of Siddartha's and Kamala's last

encounter. During the journey, Kamala is bitten by a deadly

snake, not far from the ferrymen's hut. The young boy cries for

help, and as Vasudeva carries the woman into the hut, Siddartha

recognizes Kamala, and realizes that the young boy is in fact his

own son. Kamala dies there in the small hut, happy to have once

more gazed into the eyes of her lover and father of her child.

She is filled with peace just to see the peace in Siddartha's

eyes that he had sought after for so long. She is buried next to

Vasudeva's former wife, leaving Siddartha with his only son.

Little Siddartha had been raised in the city, within the

walls of Kamala's rich pleasure garden, and this is the only life

he knows. The life of a poor and simple ferryman does not please

him, and even though Siddartha tries to give his son everything
he wants. The river just laughs at this folly for the boy had

not left the city in search of salvation as had Siddartha, he had

been forced to leave against his own will, and all he wanted was

to return to that which he knew.

Letting the boy go to his own fate is a hard trial for

Siddartha to face, and it almost takes him away from the river

and his dear friend Vasudeva. But in the end, Siddartha gives

the boy over to his own fate, as much as he wanted to protect him

from his own mistakes. "If you were to die ten times for him,

you would not alter his destiny in the slightest."9 This

wisdom from Vasudeva is hard to hear, but Siddartha knows in his

heart that it is true. Nevertheless he cannot take his son to

the city, to his own fate, so fate does it for him, and one day

the boy runs away. Siddartha follows after him to the city, but

stops at it's edge where he relives within his mind his

experiences there, knowing that he should not pursue the boy.

And as much as Siddartha loved the boy and hurt at his defiance,

he knew that he must let him go.

Vasudeva, his dear friend, came that same evening and the

two returned to the river, to their own fate. And what Siddartha

learned from his pain was that he was not so different from all

the rest, that he too was very human, although he had always

considered himself so different, set apart. He too felt love,

happiness, and pain. "There was the blind love of a mother for

her child, the blind foolish pride of a fond father for his only

9pg. 121
son, the blind eager strivings of a young vain woman for ornament

and the admiration of men. All these simple, foolish, but

tremendously strong, vital, passionate urges and desires no

longer seemed trivial to Siddartha."10

A while later Vasudeva also leaves Siddartha when he departs

into the forest to die. But before he goes, the two men sit one

last time next to the river together. Vasudeva asks Siddartha

what he hears, and for the first time Siddartha hears the whole,

the unity, and Siddartha feels his thirst being quenched as he

feels his Self finally being merged into the unity. Vasudeva has

taught him everything he had hoped to and this allows him to

depart and die in peace. "From that hour Siddartha ceased to

fight against his destiny. There shone in his face the serenity

of knowledge, of one who is no longer confronted with conflict of

desires, who has found salvation, who is in harmony with the

stream of events, with the stream of life, full of sympathy and

compassion, surrendering himself to the stream, belonging to the

unity of all things."11

Siddartha continues his life on the river as a ferryman,

when one day his old friend Govinda appears before him and asks

to be taken across. Govinda hopes to finds answers from this

legendary ferryman of whom he has heard stories. Once again, he

does not recognize his old friend Siddartha. Siddartha simply

challenges Govinda by asking the old man if he maybe sought too

much and is bound by this goal, unable to see anything else.

10pg. 130
11pg. 136.
After revealing his identity Siddartha then invites his dear old

friend to be his guest for the night. Govinda asked Siddartha

many questions that night and Siddartha related many stories from

his life. But before Govinda leaves in the morning he is pressed

to ask a few more questions about Siddartha's beliefs. Siddartha

then tells his friend what he believes, he tells his friend that

he is in love with all that is around him, whether it be a rock,

a person, or the river. Everything is of his own nature and

therefore he loves all that he sees. He no longer lives his life

by teachings, thoughts, or words, for these things he cannot

love. He is no knows time for this too is an illusion and for

him everything is in the present. He explains to Govinda that he

does not love another for his thoughts or his teachings, but

rather for his deeds and his life. "I think it is only important

to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each

other, but to be bale to regard the world and ourselves and all

beings with love, admiration and respect."12

Govinda is confused by these words, finding them strange and

ridiculous, but Govinda cannot deny the effect that Siddartha's

person has on him. He feels that before him sits a holy man, one

so filled with peace that he reminds him of Gotama, the "Perfect

One". In one last attempt to also have such peace, in one last

attempt to find salvation, Govinda asks his friend for the

answer. Siddartha simply asks Govinda to kiss his forehead, and

in doing so Govinda sees in this old, wrinkled face agelessness,

12pg. 147
he sees unity, the unity of all things. "He no longer saw the

face of his friend Siddartha. Instead he saw other faces, many

faces, a long series, a continuous stream of faces-hundreds,

thousands, which all came and disappeared and yet all seemed to

be there at the same time, which all continually changed and

renewed themselves and which were yet all Siddartha."13 Time no

longer existed, but peace, unity and salvation were there in the

present.

13pg. 150