The Pilgrim Kamanita: A Legendary Romance

Written by Karl Gjellerup, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature of 1917, this is a remarkable work of exposition on Buddhism. Published in German in 1906, 16 years before Hermann Hesse's similar but better known Siddartha, Pilgrim Kāmanīta’ recounts the history of the journey of Kamanita, an Indian merchant’s son, from earthly prosperity and carnal romance, till his meeting with a stranger monk who actually is Gautama Buddha.

The Pilgrim Kamanita figured for many years on the secondary school programme in Thailand. This version of The Pilgrim Kamanita was published and edited by Amaro Bhikkhu to coincide with the opening in 1999 of the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the Chiltern Hills in Southern England.