River as a friend in Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

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River as a friend

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Praveen Ravi

        The river is a source of knowledge. It symbolises a teacher, a guru, one who knows and is aware of this knowledge and who imparts it to those who seek knowledge from it. In Herman Hesse’s novella Siddhartha, the protagonist Siddhartha is deeply mystified by the secrets and puzzles of the river. He seeks to unravel and them and gain knowledge from the river in order to achieve his goal of attaining nirvana, enlightenment. He is helped in his course by a ferryman Vasudeva, who has lived all his life close to the river, transporting people from one side to the other. He too has learnt a lot from the river. He helps Siddhartha in understanding the river and at instances, clarifies his doubt. The river’s knowledge, for Siddhartha, is the last knowledge with which he can attain nirvana. It was the only thing that could help him to take the last step in achieving salvation.

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        When Siddhartha approaches the river  the second time in his life, after enjoying all the worldly pleasures of wealth, love, power, he is deeply attracted to it, he is enchanted by it. He says “Love this river, stay by it……..many secrets, all secrets” on pg 166. Siddhartha wants to learn from the river, he wants to listen to it; he wants to unravel its secrets. Siddhartha is looking towards the river as an abundance of knowledge which he wishes to seek. He believes that by understanding the river’s knowledge, secrets, one can know more about other different things, other secrets, ...

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