Siddhartha is the spiritual journey of a boy who lived in India during the period of Buddha. The story is based in ancient Nepal, where Siddhartha, the son of a brahmin leaves his home with his friend, Govinda in the search of enlightenment and with the aim of joining the ascetics. He undergoes a series of hanges and realizations and at last achieves enlightenment as a ferryman listening to the sounds of the river that give long lasting peace and capture the essence of his journey. Siddhartha is Hermann Hesse's ninth novel and was written in German in a simple yet powerful and lyrical style. It was written after he had spent some time in India during the 1910's.