Friday, April 4, 2008

Kamala: Why did Siddhartha come to Kamala and what did he have to do to earn her friendship?

In Kamala, Siddhartha comes upon a large town on his pilgrimage after leaving the Budda. Just outside the town, he encounters the grove of a popular courtesan. Once seeing this courtesan, Siddhartha is determined to become acquainted. Quickly, he returns to the town and discovers that her name is Kamala and that she also owns a home in the town. After making friends with a town barber, Siddhartha cuts his hair and beard and put oil in his new cut to impress the woman. The next morning he approaches Kamala's grove and given the chance to speak to her. She notices that he was at her grove the previous day, with dirt in his beard and long hair. Siddhartha explains, "You have observed well, you have seen everything. You have seen Siddhartha, the Brahmin's son, who left his home in order to become a Samana, and who was a Samana for three years. Now, however, I have left that path..."(Hesse 53). Siddhartha clarifies to Kamala that though his appearance is not one of a Brahmin's son, this is because he had been living the life a Samana who does not involve themselves with physical possessions and looks. He then goes onto explain, "...I would like to ask you to be my friend and teacher, for I do not know anything of the art of which you are mistress" (Hesse 53). He asks Kamala for her friendships and teachings about the pleasures of love. Respectfully, Kamala names three requirements Siddhartha must achieve before she will become his acquaintance. She verifies, "Many young men come to me, including Brahmin's sons, but they come to me in fine clothes, in fine shoes; there is scent in their hair and money in their purses"(Hesse 54). Siddhartha, who stands before her in old torn loincloth, no shoes, and no money, had much work to do in a short amount of time. He accepted her wishes, and asked for advice on the quickest way to achieve these possessions. 

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Siddhartha has begun to completely change his character. Just a few chapter's before, he was filling his life with the self-denial and the way of enlightenment. He did not focus on human desires or pleasures and had spent much time learning the teachings of Budda and the Samanas. Upon seeing this beautiful courtesan, he forgets his ways and wishes to learn about the human aspirations and possessions. He is not palliative about his change in life style but is honest with Kamala in explaining that he has left the ways of the Samanas and his previous path. Siddhartha is caught up in the desire to learn about love he had never experienced and a new way of life. When Kamala tells Siddhartha that he must have nice clothes, nice shoes, and money in his pocket, the previous Siddhartha would not have desired to possess these things, but he openly welcomes the challenge in this stage of his life. He is beginning to get caught up the valuables and mental wants. The mere fact that he came to Kamala in search of teachings about new information hinders that Siddhartha may in-fact not have changed his thoughts and actions completely. 

2 Comments:

At April 7, 2008 at 5:21 AM , Blogger snorlax said...

Once Siddhartha crosses the river to be in the new town, he becomes a different person. Once he meets Kamala in the grove, his life takes a new direction, which is to become aquainted with her and to become her student in matters of the heart. As Pikachu has stated, she tells him to bring her gifts and to wear fancy clothes, so he gets a job to fullfill these requirements. His whole appearance changes, and it appears that he has abandoned his old lifestyle to become a rich person. This is not how I see it though. Throughout his life, Siddhartha has always tried to reach enlightenment by listening to teachers and doing as they say. In the beginning of the story he, the Brahmins tell him the way to live, when he becomes a Samana he listens to their advice, after he leaves the town, he becomes a disciple of the ferryman. The way i view Siddhartha's life is that he is constantly trying to find his way by listening to teachers, and everytime he changes teachers he becomes fully absorbed by their ways. That is why he forgets the ways of the Samana when he becomes a businessman, because in his mind the time he was a Samana was a different lifetime ago. Everytime he switches teachers he forgets all he knows and tries to please them. In order to earn Kamala's friendship, he becomes a merchant because that is what her teachings say.

 
At April 7, 2008 at 5:28 AM , Blogger The Hulk said...

In your quote regarding Siddhartha's new path, this new path has given Siddhartha desires he has yet to experience. Siddhartha has never been with a woman before and he wants to experience the pleasures associated with it. When Siddhartha sees Kamala, he knows that he wants to talk to her and he does not tarry his transformation of appearance.
Although it is true that Siddhartha needed to obtain the three requirements of nice clothes, shoes, and money, Siddhartha set the platform of his friendship with Kamala through poetry. After receiting the poem, Kamala was drawn to him and could not resist kissing him. If she was to have her way, they would have been friends immediately. Yet, the influence of appearance tells her that he must obtain these materialistic items in order to be seen with him. Kamala quotes, "'I have a visitor,' said Kamala, 'Hurry and disappear, Siddhartha, nobody must see you here. I will see you again tomorrow'" (Hesse 58).
Overall, I agree with Pikachu that Siddhartha's friendship with Kamala allows Siddhartha to fulfill his yearing to be with a woman and learn from her teachings. Siddhartha may not have changed his search for learning but his desires have changed to become materialistic.

 

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