In Herman Hess’s, , ’s constant growth and spiritual evolution is elucidated through the symbolism of the snake, the bird and the river. As a snake sheds it’s skin in order to continue its physical growth, sheds the skins of his past: “ he realized that something had left him, like the old skin a snake sheds/ Something was no longer with him, something that had accompanied him right through his youth and was a part of him” (37). In this way leaves his childhood companion, Govinda, and follows the teachings of the Illustrious one. ....