Set in India, Hermann Hesse’s Siddharta is the story of a young Brahmin’s search for ultimate reality, reflecting Hesse’s interest in Oriental mysticism. The word Siddhartha is made up of two words in the Sanskrit language, siddha (achieved) and artha (what was searched for), which together means “He who has found meaning (of existence).”

Siddhartha is an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian boy called Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha. The book, Hesse's ninth novel, was written in German, in a simple, yet powerful and lyrical, style. It was first published in 1922, after Hesse had spent some time in India in the 1910s. It was published in the U.S. in 1951 and became influential during the 1960s.