The Pilgrim Kamanita

Set in the India of the Buddha’s lifetime, this 1906 novel follows Kamanita, a young merchant who falls in love with Vasitthi in the city of Kosambi and loses her to circumstance and pride. His grief sends him wandering, and one night he takes shelter beside a quiet stranger who turns out to be the Buddha himself, though Kamanita fails to recognize him. From there the story reaches past a single lifetime into rebirth, the heavens, and the slow working out of two souls across ages. Gjellerup, a Danish writer who won the Nobel Prize in 1917, steeped the book in Buddhist teaching without letting it harden into a sermon. Available as a free PDF and EPUB edition.