Siddhartha

Siddhartha: An Indian Novel 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. It is Hesse's ninth novel and was written in German in a deliberately simple and lyrical style.

Hesse wrote the book after travelling to India in the 1910s, and it was published in the United States in 1951 by New Directions, where it became influential during the 1960s. He dedicated the first part to the French writer Romain Rolland and the second to his cousin Wilhelm Gundert, which reflects the European readership he had in mind.

The name is composed of two Sanskrit words, siddha, meaning achieved, and artha, meaning what was searched for, so the title itself means he who has found meaning. The book is usually read as an allegory rather than a historical account. The book is set in India during the Buddha's lifetime, and its subject is the search rather than the teaching, which is why it is read as an allegory about finding wisdom rather than about receiving it.