Sign-In
Cart
Siddhartha: An Indian Tale
Hardcover
Publisher: Bibliotech Press
Published: Jul 12 2025
Pages: 132
Weight: 0.73
Height: 0.50 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Siddhartha is a philosophical novel by Hermann Hesse, first published in 1922 in Germany. It explores the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha (around the 5th to 6th century BCE).
Siddhartha, the son of a Brahmin (a Hindu priestly class), is dissatisfied with the teachings and rituals of traditional religion. He seeks deeper spiritual enlightenment and embarks on a journey that takes him through different stages of life:
Siddhartha grows up in a religious environment but becomes disillusioned with traditional teachings.
He joins a group of ascetic monks (Samanas), practicing self-denial and fasting. Still, he finds no lasting fulfillment.
He and his friend Govinda meet Gautama Buddha. Govinda stays with the Buddha, but Siddhartha leaves, believing that enlightenment can't be taught-only experienced.
Siddhartha explores worldly pleasures. He meets Kamala, a courtesan who teaches him love, and Kamaswami, a wealthy merchant who teaches him business. He becomes rich but eventually feels spiritually empty.
Siddhartha leaves his luxurious life and finds peace by the river with a ferryman named Vasudeva, who teaches him to listen to the river. The river becomes a symbol of life, unity, and timelessness.
Through deep listening and reflection, Siddhartha finally attains a state of peace and enlightenment-not through doctrine, but through experience and unity with nature and life.
The themes include:
The Journey of Self-Discovery
Spiritual Enlightenment
The Illusion of Duality (suffering vs. joy, rich vs. poor)
The Limitations of Doctrine
Time and Timelessness
Hesse was heavily influenced by Indian philosophy, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
The novel became especially popular in the 1960s counterculture movement in the U.S. and Europe due to its emphasis on spiritual growth outside organized religion.
About the author
Hermann Karl Hesse (2 July 1877 - 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophical traditions, combined with his involvement with Jungian analysis, helped to shape his literary work. His best-known novels include Demian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, Narcissus and Goldmund, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual's search for authenticity, self-knowledge, and spirituality.
Hesse was born in 1877 in Calw, a town in Germany's Northern Black Forest. His father was a Baltic German and his grandmother had French-Swiss roots. As a child, he shared a passion for poetry and music with his mother, and was well-read and cultured, due in part to the influence of his polyglot grandfather.
As a youth, he studied briefly at a Protestant boarding school, the Evangelical Seminaries of Maulbronn and Blaubeuren, where he struggled with bouts of depression and once attempted suicide, which temporarily landed him in a sanatorium. Hesse completed Gymnasium and passed his examinations in 1893, when his formal education ended. An autodidact, Hesse read theological treatises, Greek mythology, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Friedrich Schiller, and Friedrich Nietzsche after his formal education concluded. His first works of poetry and prose were being published in the 1890s and early 1900s with his first novel, Peter Camenzind, appearing in 1904. (Wikipedia.org)
22 different editions
Also available
Also from
Hesse, Hermann
Stäppvargen: Specialutgåva: Oavkortad översättning med filosofiska och psykoanalytiska kommentarer
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Siddhartha: A Novel of Self-Discovery and the Search for Inner Understanding
Hesse, Hermann
Hardcover
Siddhartha: En indisk berättelse: Referensutgåva med filosofiska kommentarer
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
The Hesse-Mann Letters: The Correspondence of Hermann Hesse and Thomas Mann 1910-1955
Hesse, Hermann
Mann, Thomas
Paperback
Siddhartha - An Indian Novel / インドの詩: Tranzlaty English 日本語
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Der Steppenwolf / The Steppe Wolf [Bilingual Edition] - German & English (Vol I of II)
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Siddhartha - An Indian Novel / 印度诗歌: Tranzlaty English 普通话
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Siddhartha - An Indian Novel / Một bài thơ Ấn Độ: Tranzlaty English Tiếng Việt
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
The Seasons of the Soul: The Poetic Guidance and Spiritual Wisdom of Herman Hesse (16pt Large Print Edition) (Large Print Edition)
Hesse, Hermann
Fischer, Ludwig Max
Paperback
Siddhartha - Eine Indische Dichtung / An Indian Novel: Tranzlaty Deutsch English
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Siddhartha - Un Romanzo Indiano / An Indian Novel: Tranzlaty Italiano English
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Siddhartha - An Indian Novel / Bir Hint Romanı: Tranzlaty English Türkçe
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Siddhartha - An Indian Poem / Indická Báseň: Tranzlaty English Čestina
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Siddhartha - An Indian Novel / 인도의 시: Tranzlaty English 한국어
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Siddhartha - An Indian Novel / O Poezie Indiană: Tranzlaty English Româna
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Siddhartha - An Indian Novel / Indijska Pesem: Tranzlaty English Slovensčina
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Siddhartha - An Indian Novel / 'n Indiese Gedig: Tranzlaty English Afrikaans
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Der Steppenwolf (Deutsche Ausgabe): Hermann Hesses Klassisches Meisterwerk über Selbstfindung und Inneren Konflikt
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Der Steppenwolf / The Steppe Wolf [Bilingual Edition] - German & English (Vol II of II)
Hesse, Hermann
Paperback
Also in
Classic Fiction
James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales Vol. 1 (Loa #26): The Pioneers / The Last of the Mohicans / The Prairie
Cooper, James Fenimore
Hardcover
Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, a Midsummer Night's Dream, the Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night
Shakespeare, William
Paperback
The Princess Bride Deluxe Limited Edition: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William
Paperback
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of the Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Paperback
The Lord of the Rings Illustrated by the Author: Illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Hardcover
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William
Hardcover
The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (Revised and easy-to-read)
Vermilye, Alan
Bunyan, John
Paperback
Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Shelley, Mary
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Stoker, Bram
Paperback