Role of Kamala in Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

Throughout Siddhartha, Herman Hesse demonstrations the different paths to enlightenment through the use of memorable characters such as Siddhartha and Govinda. Siddhartha and Govinda were the sons of Brahmins and thus grew up basked in the ways of religion. The boys were constantly praying and listening to teachings of the teachers in their town. Because of this, they are closer to enlightenment, or the knowledge of self, sought by everyone around them. Siddhartha believes that life has more to offer than praying and meditating like his father. Govinda, who is less of a leader than Siddhartha, believes that the only way to enlightenment is through following other teachers. Throughout the book it is shown the each person must find their own path to enlightenment.

Siddhartha parted from Govinda to leave behind the childhood memories and with that decision, he felt at peace, he had renounced friendship too. He was no longer going to leave himself behind and begin his day with the thinking of Atman. Atman is the subject of knowledge (Smart 203). His identity was plain and simple, Siddhartha, the awakened one, not his father’s son and not a Brahmin. (Hesse 38).

After leaving Gautama, Siddhartha decides to experience the world of ordinary living. Siddhartha sees a beautiful young courtesan, Kamala, and begs her to teach him the art of love. She tells Siddhartha that he

Fathers and sons have special bonds that connect them in a different way from other individuals. Although they may not expose much emotion, respect and honor are key factors that link their relationships. Siddhartha and his father had a certain understanding towards each other. Siddhartha loved, feared, respected and was patient towards his father; an equal amount of these traits were reciprocated with the addition of understanding.

Siddhartha meets this beautiful woman named Kamala. He is intrigued by her and wants to get to know her. Kamaswami is also an involved character in the book that contributed with the way Siddhartha gains so much of his wealth. Siddhartha learns from the two of them to make money, and all is well for a little while, but

Kamala soon becomes Siddhartha’s lover, and she helps him learn the ways of the city, leaving his ascetic life as a Samana behind. She then has a child that is from Siddhartha, whom Siddhartha had never met. Kamala does not have a very spiritual life, and Siddhartha influences her to seek a more spiritual lifestyle to better herself. She becomes tired of being a courtesan and realizes she can be a better person. The author brings Kamala back into the story when the news of Gotama’s advancement towards death breaks out into the villages; “One day, when very many people were making a pilgrimage to the dying Buddha, Kamala, once the most beautiful of the courtesans, was also on her way. She had long retired from her previous way of life, had presented her garden to Gotama’s monks, taking refuge in his teachings. . .” (Hesse 90). Kamala is one of the most important characters in the book because she is able to teach Siddhartha about physical love, and lead him to spiritual enlightenment.

This change in character, though it is more dominant towards the end of the novel, is also seen in the second part of Siddhartha’s journey when he meets Kamala for the first time. It is very surprising when Siddhartha asks Kamala to be his teacher, especially after he relays to Govinda that he was not satisfied with the teachings of the Samanas. But even so, Siddhartha follows through and is a good student, “He visited the beautiful Kamala regularly, learned the art of love in which, more than anything else, giving and taking become one. He talked to her, learned from her, gave her advice, received advice. She understood him better than Govinda had once done. She was more like him” (Hesse 58). This shows that Siddhartha has made a much deeper connection with Kamala than he has anyone before. These connections then show us that Siddhartha has learned about attachment, something that he did not have as a Samana.

Siddhartha begins to deviate from his holy walk in life when he meets Kamala. In Siddhartha Kamala is a pleasure woman who owns a beautiful grove outside of a larger town. “Siddhartha saw how beautiful she was

Before this pivotal moment Siddhartha traveled to a village and met his lover Kamala as

Siddhartha's understanding of love and affection is extremely immature during his earlier years of life. Nothing else really mattered

        Siddhartha reaches a town and is moved by the beauty of the courtesan Kamala as she enters her grove in a sedan.  This starts Siddhartha stage of the flesh.  He asks her to be his teacher in the arts of love, but Kamala laughs and says that she receives only those young men who approach her in fine clothes and shoes, with scent in their hair and money in their purses. When she learns that Siddhartha can read and write, she conducts him to the businessman Kamaswami, who will help him to acquire the tokens necessary for entrance into her garden of pleasure.  Kamala gives him a kiss in exchange for a good poem, and the amount of knowledge in that kiss amazes Siddhartha.

She insists Siddhartha should be friendly yet have a powerful voice. She tells him to not become his servant but rather Kamaswami’s equal for she will not take in Siddhartha as a student if he stoops below his position.

One portion of the plot that I thought was very interesting was Kamala’s personal identity intersecting with her sense of strength. When Kamala finally “accepts” her true self, she’s forced to shrink into a tiny version of herself. Although this was pivotal to the action-packed plot, I thought this specific metaphor was interesting. I connected her finally “accepting herself, (for she hadn 't yet, not completely,) to have to being reborn, or a type of hero’s journey where she has to reemerge as her true self, fully realized, in order to succeed. It’s only in the fifth and final volume that Kamala is capable of mastering her powers, after being shrank. With Bruno’s help, she physically, (and mentally) grows into a giant, her truly realized, heroine form to save the day.

Then, Kamala becomes his lover and began to teach him about the world of love. Siddhartha after years became a rich man that enjoys life in the material world. Soon he enters a cycle of unhappiness and tries to escape it. Siddhartha had a dream about Kamala’s songbird dead in its cage, and then he makes a resolve and leaves it all behind without notifying anyone. He went to the river to seek the ferryman, who name is Vasudeva and ask to learn from the river to obtain enlightenment. Kamala appears one day with her son to cross but she was bitten by a snake. She tells Siddhartha about his son before she died. Siddhartha tries to make it up to him but his son ran away in the morning. After that, he continues learning from the river and finally achieves enlightenment, this is the climax. The resolution is that Siddhartha meet Govinda and helps him obtain enlightenment. Flashback shows how the event or situation happens. Foreshadowing predicts what happen later in the novel. Both in the beginning and end, Siddhartha and Govinda are together. In the beginning, they don’t have enlightenment while in the

Siddhartha first meets Kamala after he has just decided that he no longer wants to be an ascetic, and that he needs to try a new way of life. He meets