Siddhartha - An Indian Tale

Translated by Gunther Olesch, Anke Dreher, Amy Coulter, Stefan Langer and Semyon Chaichenets

Siddhartha is an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian man 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.

"Siddhartha" means "he who has attained his goals" or "every wish fulfilled". The Buddha's name, before his renunciation, was Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later the Buddha. The main character of Siddhartha in the book is not the same person as the Buddha, who in the book goes by the name "Gotama".

— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.