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Challenging Indian Religious Authority
“Your vision will become clear when you look into your heart. Who looks outside,
dreams. Who looks inside, awakens”- Carl Jung. Siddhartha is a novel by Hermann Hesse, was
written in 1922 right after the World War I. In short, it is a journey of a Brahmin's son
Siddhartha- transitioning from spiritual to materialistic and back to the spiritual world to attain
self-realization, authenticity, and spirituality. The novel's setting takes place in ancient India,
during the period of the Gautama Buddha (The Sublime One). Below, I will show how
Siddhartha’s story legitimates Indian Religion-Hinduism, but challenges both Hinduism and
Buddhism. According to Siddhartha neither Brahmins, Samanas nor Buddha can teach how to
attain Nirvana, they can only prove that one can attain it, which challenges both Hindu and
Buddhist priests. However, legitimation of Indian religious authority is depicted through his
