Siddhartha is a classic tale relating the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha.

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)" or "he who has attained his goals".

Hesse’s Siddartha is exactly this—the story of one who, through many travails and a lifelong search, finally attains his ultimate goal, that of realization, the awakening enlightenment of nirvana.