Siddhartha (novel)
novel by Hermann Hesse
Siddhartha: An Indian novel (German: Siddhartha. Eine indische Dichtung; German: [ziˈdaʁta] ) is a 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha. 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 and became influential during the 1960s. Hesse dedicated the first part of it to the French writer Romain Rolland and the second part to Wilhelm Gundert, his cousin.
The word Siddhartha is made up of two words in the Sanskrit language: siddha (achieved) + artha (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, was Siddhartha Gautama, prince of Kapilavastu. In this book, the Buddha is referred to as "Gotama", the Pali version of the Buddha's name.
Plot
The story takes place in ancient India, where Siddhartha, the handsome son of a Brahmin, decides to leave his home in the hope of gaining spiritual illumination by becoming an ascetic Samana. Joined by his best friend Govinda, Siddhartha fasts, becomes homeless, renounces all personal possessions, and intensely meditates.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Siddhartha (novel)” as novel by Hermann Hesse. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as novel by Hermann Hesse. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q457289. VIAF identifies the subject as 186880012. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1922 and 1951.
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This entry incorporates text from “Siddhartha (novel)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.