AN ANALYSIS OF SIDDHARTHA’S QUEST FOR MOKSA IN HESSE’S NOVEL THROUGH THE LENS OF HINDUISM

The purposes of the study were to examine the concept of the quest for spiritual liberation of Hinduism and to analyze Siddhartha's quest for moksa in Hesse's novel that accords with the concept of Hinduism. The text used to analyze is Hesse's novel, Siddhartha. The study found that Siddhartha's quest for moksa is consistent with the concept on the quest for spiritual liberation of Hinduism in three aspects. Firstly, Siddhartha's quest depicts the four stages of life as related to ages and duties (asramas), namely, religious student (brahmacarya), householder (grhastha), forest-dweller (vanaprastha), and renunciant (sannyasin). Secondly, the quest of the protagonist presents the pursuit of the four objectives of life (purusharthas) comprising sensual pleasures (kama), wealth (artha), righteousness and duty (dharma), and liberation (moksa). Finally, Siddhartha's quest also portrays the means to liberation through the path of knowledge (jnana-marga) divided into two stages, viz., cultivation of detachment (vairagya) and acquisition of knowledge (jnana).