Harmonious Self for a Harmonious World: Quest for Self in Hesse’s Siddhartha

Abstract

Siddhartha, the Brahmin’s son, leaves behind his father’s house in quest of the true nature of his self. He goes through different stages of life from the austere Samana path to the sensual and corporeal world of Kamala and Kamaswami, but finally lives with the ferryman Vasudeva by the river. Siddhartha denies following all doctrines and preachers including the much admired Gotama the Buddha. Siddhartha achieves enlightenment only after he intensely suffers in the love of his unresponsive son. Siddhartha is a complex blend of the Eastern and Western mysticism as well as the insights from modern existential and psychoanalytic philosophies. Siddhartha was written and published in the aftermath of the World War I, at a time when human existence itself was threatened by the ideological and racial warfare. Hesse wrote the allegorical novel as a challenge to established belief systems and the tyranny of the state over the individual. This thesis follows the protagonist Siddhartha’s quest for his self insisting that real satisfaction, enlightenment or happiness can only be achieved by affirming one’s individuality – and by transcending all dogmas and belief systems.