The Dhamma Man

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'It is not death that is at the root of misery, it is birth.' Siddharth Gautam, prince of Kapilavastu and heir to the throne, has everything. Yet he is dissatisfied. The fundamental problem of suffering, dukkha, bothers him. He leaves home, renouncing crown and family, and becomes a wandering seeker. Siddharth finds gurus to guide him, practises extreme asceticism—at one point nearly starving himself to death—and then rejects everything, for the knowledge he seeks constantly eludes him. He then meditates, and one epiphanic night, enlightenment comes to him, the startling insight into the human condition which makes him the Buddha. The Dhamma Man explores, sensitively and with great objectivity, Buddha as man—as son, husband and father. And even as Sarang tries to understand the effect Siddharth's renunciation of the world had on his family, he celebrates Buddha, who not only launched a religion but has continued relevance today, more than two millennia after his death.

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Vilas Sarang was born in Karwar and educated in Mumbai and at Indiana University. He has taught English literature in various countries and was head of the English department in Mumbai University for several years. His short stories have been collected in Women in Cages and his novel Tandoor Cinders was published in 2008. He has also published two collections of poetry: A Kind of Silence and Another Life.