In Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, the river is a divine teacher to Siddhartha and Vasudeva, the "Ferryman." It also acts as a savior to Siddhartha by "laughing" at him or dazzling him with its beauty, by doing this it stops Siddhartha from doing foolish things like attempting suicide from the horrible Samsara he encountered and lived in while he was a wealthy merchant or returning back to Samsara to find his son who will never except him. The river's importance is always as a mentor for Siddhartha and Vasudeva it explains timelessness to both of them and provides Siddhartha a wisdom he could never achieve in any of his other "practices."
             Throughout the Beginning of the novel the river plays an important role as a symbol of holiness but in an indirect way that is not detected by Siddhartha until the end when he lives with the ferryman. Even as a Brahmin Siddhartha uses the river as a holy place, he uses it as the place to perform the first ablution. But he does not understand or appreciate its importance yet. When Siddhartha crosses it for the first time after leaving the Buddha and deciding to learn through experiences. He meets the ferryman and begins to feel a sort of peaceful knowledge from the river through his dreams and otherwise. The ferryman then tells him what a great place he finds it, he briefly describes its importance and hints "you can learn much when...you listen and gaze at it."(Hesse 40) Siddhartha hears what the man says but does not internalize his wise words. This doesn't happen until he has sunk to his lowest low after he leaves the village completely nauseated.
             After Siddhartha leaves the wretched game of materialism and is going to suicide by drowning in the river, he looks into the river and sees himself. He then begins to hear the holy Om that causes him to "...awaken his slumbering soul" (72) and he realizes how foolish his thoughts of Suic...